Charcoal Heart
by GreentreeFrog
Summary: Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable. AU NaLu
1. First Meeting

_**Hello one and all!** _

_It's GreentreeFrog here, reporting in with a new story! I was kind of depressed at the lack of NaLu stories over 20000+ words, so when this idea literally hit me at one o'clock in the morning, I grabbed it by the tail and started writing! I'm actually quite proud of this one, I've written enough stories to fill up my harddrive, but this is one of the only ones that seemed to fly off my fingers and onto the keys._

_So, as I said before, this IS a NaLu story, because I'm a sucker for that pairing... I don't mind Loke either, but that's another story. *evil grin* This story will more than likely have a lot of dialogue from the anime/manga, because of when its set... that doesn't mean I won't be changing things... oh no, I definitely will be twisting the plot, quite a lot, in fact. Almost so its unrecognisable to the original story. But it will have the main plot points that cannon has. But that won't be for a couple of chapters. I do have to get the story set up, after all. _

_**Disclaimer:** I, GreentreeFrog (who is too paranoid to reveal her own name), do not own Fairy Tail. Proof of this is the fact that Natsu and Lucy are not together yet, and Sabertooth's two dragonslayers exist... they are so freakin annoying and arrogant!_

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><p>Layla Heartfilia smiled as she watched her daughter shift around impatiently. The five year old and her mother had been in the carriage for <em>ages<em>(when in fact, it was only an hour, but that's like, ten years to a kid Lucy's age), and the woman had not told her daughter where they were going. The woman lifted Lucy onto her lap, so the little girl could see out of the window. Many trees went past, the occasional rock or bird, but once in a while, Lucy would spot a deer or a bunny racing through the woods. She tried pointing them out excitedly to her mother but they were gone before the older woman could see them.

"Where are we going, mama?" Lucy eventually asked, tired of watching out of the window.

Layla shifted the little girl in her lap so she could talk to her face-to-face. "We're going to take you to see an old friend of mine. You're going to stay with him for a week."

Lucy's eyes widened, as she realized why her mama wanted her to pack a big bag of clothes. Suddenly, panic gripped the little girl when a thought struck her. "You're staying too, aren't you, mama?" Her high voice trembled a little, so Layla hugged the girl to her chest.

"No sweety, mama has important stuff to do," she stroked her daughter's hair when she felt the little shoulders shake beneath her hands. The carriage's pace slowed a little, and the bouncing increased, but they didn't stop. "It's alright, my friend won't hurt you. He's really nice, even though he may seem a little scary at first. Kind of like daddy." Lucy wanted to disagree with what her mama said- her daddy was scary _all _the time. This did not sooth her fears at all. "And besides, I hear he has a _son_, around your age that you can play with."

Lucy unburied her head from her mother's chest and stuck out her tongue in disgust. "A _boy?_ But they have _boy_ germs!" Lucy suddenly started bouncing up and down (even more than she was already thanks to the carriage and the rough road), and she looked up to her mama's face to see her laughing. Lucy huffed and crossed her arms. "It's not funny! They _do!_ I'll probably catch some type of _boy_ disease!" This did nothing to halt Layla's laughter. In fact, it seemed louder. The expression the blonde five-year-old was pulling was absolutely _adorable._

"Oh, my dear Lucky Lucy," her mother finally said, tucking the girl's head under her chin. "You're beautiful. By the way, did I tell you that my friend has _magic?_" Lucy sucked in a quick breath, shaking her head as best as she could in her position. "Well, maybe if you're a good girl, he'll show you some. I think you'll like it."

"Is it like yours mama? Can he make pretty mermaids and crab-people too?" Layla giggled. Lucy was quite taken with her spirits, and the feeling was mutual. Aquarius, whenever summoned around Lucy would always rush to the little girl and spoil her rotten. Cancer would make art with her, and do her hair all nice and pretty. Capricorn (a weird, hairy-looking goat-man) had become a doting uncle, a little aloof with the girl, yet still caring for her, acting much more like a father than her own. "Can you get Ak-waw-i-us out now? She's fun!"

"Sorry Lucy, there's no water around, so I can't summon Aquarius. Besides, we're just about there." Lucy jumped out of her mother's lap and bounced up to see out the window, yet there was no house in sight. Just trees, trees, more trees… and was that a mountain? "And my friend's magic is a little different to my own, but you'll like it all the same." Layla looked out the window, and deemed they had gone as far as they could. "Driver!" She called, this time in a louder voice, "you can stop here! Lucy and I can walk the rest of the way!"

The carriage stopped, but Lucy pouted. "_Walk_? But that's gonna take _forever!" _Layla gave her daughter a stern look and Lucy relented, following her mother out of the carriage. Layla grabbed her daughter's bag from the compartment in the back and flung it over her shoulder. It wasn't heavy at all, and she had vowed to herself to never summon any of her spirits to do menial tasks like carrying objects for her.

The driver hopped off his seat and bowed to Layla. "Will you be alright from here, madam?"

"Yes, we should be fine, Toshirou." With that parting phrase, mother and daughter started their trek through the woods, towards the mountain Lucy had spotted earlier.

Lucy still hadn't seen any sign of a house, and was beginning to wonder if this was all just some big trick her mama was playing on her. Yet, she followed the older blonde, marvelling out how graceful she seemed walking through the woods, in a _dress_ of all things. Lucy gripped her mother's hand when she heard scuttling to her left, her head whipping around to see what was making the noise. She only caught a flash of white, and assumed it was a bunny or something. But Lucy still hung onto her mother's hand.

After walking for about ten minutes straight, Lucy's feet were starting to hurt. She had never walked this much in her whole life! And it was boring too, just tree, after tree, after tree, after rock, and the occasional bush. The sounds of twigs breaking or disturbances in the bushes didn't stop after the first time and Lucy was starting to get really frightened. Did her mother know where she was leading her?

It appeared she did, because soon after the thought, they arrived at a clearing at the base of the mountain. A cave was carved into the mountain wall, so dark that Lucy couldn't see anything past the massive entrance. A stream was running down towards her left, at the edge of the clearing. Trees bordered them, acting like walls, flowers growing in patches here and there. It was beautiful, in Lucy's mind, sort of like the place fairies would live, yet it was sort of creepy, with no one there.

"Now," Layla broke the silence, "we wait."

Lucy didn't know what she was supposed to be waiting for, and it was getting hard to see, because a large, fast cloud was quickly blocking the sun. Lucy squinted her eyes and looked up to glare at the cloud when-

Wait, that wasn't a cloud.

A large shape was coming towards them, and Lucy felt herself go cold. The wind was picking up, and the little girl hid behind her mother, who wasn't moving an inch. A loud thud resounded through the once peaceful clearing, the thing that caused the noise shaking the ground with its weight.

Layla felt her face pull into a wide grin. "Igneel! It's been a while, hasn't it? Have you gotten bigger?"

There was a chuckle that sounded like stones grating against one another. Lucy screwed up her eyes and hid her head into her mother's skirt. "Layla, it has indeed been _way_ too long. And I may have grown a bit more, yes. And who is this little one, hiding behind her mother, hmmm?"

Layla tugged her daughter out in front of her. "Lucy, say hello to Igneel-san, don't be rude."

Lucy opened her eyes to look at 'Igneel-san', what met her gaze shocked her. In front of her was a _dragon_, a real, live _dragon._ He was massive, bright red with sharp spikes lining from the top of his head down to the bottom of his tail. His wings were folded in, and he gazed on the little girl with humour in his golden eyes. A tuft of pink fluff seemed to be sitting in the middle of his back, but it was mostly concealed by a large wind. Lucy was utterly terrified, but her mother was behind her and didn't seem afraid of the dragon, so obviously he wouldn't hurt her.

"I-I'm Lucy," the five-year old stuttered, failing to meet the dragon's eyes, preferring to look at the pink tuft of fluff that seemed so out of place on the fearsome dragon. Pink wasn't a scary colour at all.

There was the chuckle again, the one of grinding stones. "I am Igneel, little Lucy, Igneel the fire dragon. It's a pleasure to meet you. We don't really get too much company out here, but I guess that's to be expected when you're living as a dragon." Layla giggled slightly, agreeing with her friend. "Oh, why are you being so quiet back there, Natsu? Don't tell me you're _shy_?"

Lucy faintly heard a muffled _'I'm not shy!'_ Then, without warning, the pink tuft of fluff on Igneel's back moved, quite quickly in fact. Before she even realised it, Lucy was face-to-face with a boy her age, with pink, spiky hair. He was only clothed from the waist down, the exception being a white scarf that looked to be made out of scales. There was a wicked grin on his face, a mischievous look in his odd, slanting onyx eyes.

"_Who are you?"_ Lucy jumped when the boy was whacked, rather hard, by a dragon's tail. "_Ow, _Igneel! What did ya do that for?"

"Don't be rude, Natsu! Introduce yourself!" Igneel exclaimed, internally debating about whether to be appalled or amused by his 'Son's' behaviour.

"Fine," the boy muttered, nursing a rather large lump on his head. "I'm Natsu. One day I'm gonna be the most powerful wizard in the _world!_ Igneel is teaching me dragon magic, so you better watch out!"

Layla laughed once again, but composed herself. Seeing Natsu suddenly act all big and tough reminded her of why she wanted another child, a son, but her health wouldn't let her. "My, I will certainly watch out for a handsome young man like you, Natsu. And I'm sure, one day, that you'll be the most powerful mage in the world." Little Natsu beamed at the phrase, briefly showing sharper than average teeth, that would no doubt turn into fangs one day. Lucy giggled at Natsu's new 'I'm so tough' attitude, it was quite funny seeing him stand with his hands on his hips like that.

Natsu whirled around, scowling at the blonde. "What's so funny?"

Lucy shook her head. "Nothing," she replied sweetly.

"Natsu, Lucy will be staying with us for a week. Why don't you show her around the cave?" Igneel suggested and Natsu nodded, grabbing Lucy's arm.

"C'mon! I'm gonna show you around!"

"Wait!" Lucy cried, facing her mother for a moment. "Bag please, mama?" Layla nodded, and passed the pink bag to its owner. Layla was pleased at hell well her daughter was taking meeting a dragon. Perhaps for her, it was all one big adventure? "Alright, come on Natsu!" the girl skipped alongside the boy until they disappeared into the cave.

Layla stood beside her dragon friend, staring after her daughter. "Thank you for doing this."

Igneel chuckled. "It's my pleasure, really. When you wrote to me and told me about the dreams you were having about your daughter and my adoptive son, I thought it would be a good idea for them to meet. It'll be a learning experience for them both. Natsu's never had any human friends."

"Lucy doesn't have many friends either. The closest she's got are the household staff and her books. Aquarius, Cancer and Capricorn act like family towards her, but my spirits can't be around all the time," Layla told the dragon.

"How are your powers going, by the way? Are you progressing any further with the number you can summon?" the dragon inquired.

The celestial mage nodded. "Yes, I'm able to summon all three zodiac at once, and keep them there without draining my magic too much. But I'm not the only one making progress: Lucy's shown to be a natural with spirits. She made her first contract on her fifth birthday- I gave her Crux, the Southern Cross. I'm so proud of her." Layla smiled fondly in the direction her daughter disappeared in. "Anyway, you have barely told me anything of Natsu. How did you find him? Is he any good at magic?"

Igneel lied down on the round, stretching his wings over himself like a blanket. His claws toyed with a small boulder that was lying near him, tossing it like one would toss a ball into the air. "I found him bleeding to death out of an intentional wound in his neck. He must have been around ten months old. He had no parents in sight, and I couldn't spot a carriage or anything of the like in a twenty kilometre radius. So I took him in, and once he got old enough, I started teaching him Dragon Slayer magic. He had a natural affinity with fire to begin with, I once caught him playing with hot coals when he was only two. Natsu is great at dragon slayer magic, progressing very quickly for his age. Though he is still lacking in his literacy skills."

Layla smirked slightly, an expression that seemed out of place on her kind face. "Don't you think it's weird that a dragon is teaching a human _dragon slayer_ magic?"

Igneel laughed. "That's just the way it is."

The woman gazed up at the sky, internally cursing when she realised how low the sun was in the sky. She petted Igneel's snout once, the dragon leaning into her hand. "I have to go. Take care of Lucy, make sure she doesn't get into too much trouble."

"With Natsu around? I'm sorry Layla, but with that little pink haired monster around, trouble lingers like a bad smell!" Igneel snorted, sending out a gush of flame through his nostrils.

"_Lucy!"_ Layla called, and it only took thirty seconds for the little girl to appear in front of her mother. "I'm going now, be good for Igneel-sama, ok?"

Lucy nodded, hugging her mother tightly around the waist. "I will mama. Come back soon! I'll miss you!"

"I'll miss you too sweety, I'll miss you too." She kissed the top of her daughter's head before letting her go and walking back through the woods. Lucy sniffled and turned back to Natsu and Igneel.

"Are you _crying_?" Natsu asked, getting so close to Lucy their noses were almost touching. Lucy took a step back to regain her personal space.

"No!" she yelled, furiously wiping her eyes.

"Yes you were!" Natsu argued, pouting a little and crossing his arms.

"No I wasn't!"

"Was!

"Wasn't!"

"Was!"

"Wasn't!"

"Was!"

"Was!"

"Wasn't! …damn!" Natsu scowled, glaring at Lucy a little. Igneel, who was still lying behind them, laughed so hard that flames once again spewed out of his nose. Lucy jumped as the flames missed her by centimetres.

His laughter eventually calming down, the fire dragon spoke to Lucy directly. "So young Lucy, do you want to learn a bit of fire magic?"

Lucy's eyes widened, along with Natsu's. "But I'm the only fire dragon slayer!" cried the pink-haired child.

"Yeah, and I already know celestial spirit magic! Look, I've got a spirit!" The blonde pulled a silver key from her pocket. "See! It's Grampa Crux- the southern cross."

Igneel grabbed Lucy with a large talon to bring her closer to him. "Yes child, that is very good. However, it is not unheard of for a mage to learn a secondary form of magic, just in case."

Igneel's scales felt weird under her hands. They were hot, but not unbearable, stretched over bones and muscle just like skin would. The dragon tucked her neatly under one of his wings, and Lucy couldn't help but relax. He was warm and comforting, like her mama.

Natsu was getting a little restless, and decided to hop under the same wing that Igneel was keeping Lucy in his claw.

"Natsu!" Lucy shrieked, her personal bubble popped _again._

"_Loony!"_ Natsu imitated ('it's LUCY!' was the counter which the young dragon slayer ignored), sticking out his lower lip in a small pout. He was rather cute in Lucy's opinion… but he was a boy, and boy's couldn't be cute _whatsoever_. "Can we go swimming? It's hot and I wanna!"

"Natsu, don't be rude," Igneel reprimanded once again, shifting so his wing was large enough to fit the two comfortably under it. "Let Lucy get settled first, then you can swim." Natsu pouted, but fearing another whack to the head, he stayed quiet. Lucy giggled again, making Natsu think his nickname for her (_Loony)_ was pretty accurate.

Lucy's tears had dried up by that point, and the little mage was ready to have some fun. "It's ok, Dragon-sama. I wanna go swimming! Do you have a pool?"

Igneel chuckled. "Dragon-sama? That's a new one. You, little Lucy, can call me Igneel." Lucy blushed, but nodded her small head.

"Pool?" Natsu asked. "Are you crazy, Loony? Do you see a pool around here?" Lucy scowled at the boy at the use of the nickname once again. "Nah we swim in the lake, just around that mountain! C'mon!" He grabbed the girl's hand and dragged her out from underneath Igneel's wing. He ignored her protests, and had managed to make it past the opening of the cave, when he felt pain from the inside of his knee and the young dragon slayer dropped to the ground, releasing Lucy's hand.

Said mage was standing above him with her arms crossed over her chest frowning at the boy. She lowered her foot, which was responsible for Natsu's pain. "It's your own fault, you know," she told him as the boy got up again. "If you listened to me, then I wouldn't have to kick you! I need to get changed, I can't swim in what I'm wearing now!" Natsu frowned, looking the girl over. He couldn't understand why she didn't want to swim in her dress, but then again, she was a girl, and according to Igneel, all girls are mysteries.

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><p>Igneel was pleasantly surprised at how well Natsu and Little Lucy were getting along. After Lucy had convinced Natsu to let her get changed into her swimming costume, they had both run at full speed towards the lake. The dragon sat on an outcropping on the mountain wall, watching over them as they swam, had water wars, and just had fun. Little Lucy was good for Natsu, she was able to calm him down after he was fired up, and she brought a new adventure, a new mystery into his life. She would teach him how to respond to people around his age, and not just dragons.<p>

Natsu was also good for Lucy, in a way. Having a strict upbringing so far had made the girl a little uptight, but soon the young dragon slayer was able to bring her out of her shell and get her to loosen up, all in the space of an hour. His teasing jibes often got the girl riled up, but he just laughed her off. This type of instance normally ended with Lucy whacking Natsu on the head with something heavy, and they both laughed with each other. Igneel pondered, if this is what happens in the space of a few hours, what would be the result of a week?

Another thing that had the dragon surprised about Lucy, was her attitude towards him. Sure for the first few moments, she was scared, but then she welcomed the dragon into her life, as if he was just a normal person. Perhaps it was just the child's imagination or curiosity, but Igneel would definitely be talking to Layla about this.

Dinner was… different, to say the least. After an exciting afternoon, both of the children were starving. Of course, Natsu had to open his big mouth and start requesting stuff like 'deer' for dinner. Lucy was appalled- how could anyone want _deer_ for dinner? Deer were beautiful creatures, innocent, and they were certainly not food! However, the damage had been done and the episode ended when Igneel whacked Natsu on the head with his tail, and explained to Lucy about how life works in the wild, without chefs and the like. Lucy grudgingly agreed to eat what was served (thankfully, not deer, rather, a large pheasant), which was cooked using the fire from Igneel's own breath.

Now, it was time for the children to sleep, and Igneel stretched across the entrance of the cave.

"Here, Luce!" Natsu practically shouted in the poor girl's ear, "this is where you're sleeping!" He showed her to what looked like a moss-covered wooden slab. It was close to where the fire dragon had lied down, in fact, she could feel Igneel's warm breath from where she was standing. Lucy experimentally sat down on the slab, to find it was surprisingly soft and very comfy. Natsu grinned at her knowingly, showing his small fangs. "Well, if that's all, then g'night, Luce!"

"Wait!" she cried, catching the boy's hand before he could get too far. "Mama always reads me a story before I go to sleep. C-Can you tell me a story?" she asked Igneel, with pleading eyes. Natsu and the Dragon exchanged looks, and Lucy was worried that he might reject her plea, but then Igneel nodded.

"Alright then. I believe I have just the right story for you. Natsu, come here and lie down. You've heard this story before, but it has been many years since you've heard it last." Natsu nodded, scooting under Igneel's wing to rest his head on the Dragon's soft underbelly. Lucy reached down to her bag and grabbed out her favourite, forest green blanket, wrapping it around herself and lying down. Seeing the children all comfy in their places, Igneel started his tale.

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><p>"<em>Many thousands of years ago, this land was ruled by dragons. Humans and dragons lived in harmony, working together. It was said to be a golden age. But one day, an arrogant, but very charismatic human male called Dengen voiced his opinions to the people in his village. He thought that the humans should rule, not the dragons, who he thought of as beasts. He convinced the rest of his village of his point of view, and so soon, he was off around the countryside, gathering followers. The humans then quickly revolted against the dragons, with Dengen as their leader. The dragons did not realise that this was all the work of one man, so they started a war with the humans. Many died on both sides. One dragon, whose name was lost to time, however, saw this was all the work of Dengen, and chased after the man.<em>

"_The dragon was ancient, and very powerful. He was something akin to royalty amongst other dragons. He was normally very wise, but anger and need for revenge had clouded his mind. He knew that killing Dengen would not solve anything- the humans were too far gone for that to matter. No, he just wanted to see the human's blood on his claws. He chased him to his home village, which he burnt down in a matter of seconds. He was close to capturing Dengen, but then a man had appeared behind his leader. _

"_Dengen had prepared for something like this, and had sought out a powerful mage to protect him. The mage captured the ancient dragon in his own fire, sealing the flames, along with the dragon into a glass rose. The dragons, losing all hope with the ancient one's defeat, fled and went into hiding."_

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><p>Lucy frowned. "This is a sad story. I don't like it very much." Natsu frowned at the interruption.<p>

Igneel laughed softly. "It is only the beginning, I am not finished yet. Shall I continue?" Blushing, Lucy nodded.

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><p>"<em>The glass rose that contained the sealed dragon fire was taken with Dengen to his new palace, and put in a special room on a golden pedestal. The now Emperor, Dengen often went into the room to taunt the rose and revel in his victory. He did this every day of his life, until the day he died. The rose sat there on the pedestal for hundreds of years after he died, as a monument to the first Emperor, who defeated the dragons. <em>

"_One day, around a thousand years since the dragon was sealed, a lowly servant girl had escaped her cruel master and ran into the room with the rose. She had little luck in life, her parents dying at a very young age, and no relatives to speak of. She had grown up on the streets, before the current emperor had seen her beauty and forced her to work as his servant. He was harsh and cruel to her, forcing her to do things she definitely did not want to do. Her name was Yuki._

"_She saw the glass rose, and for the first time, someone felt pity for it. The fire inside was trapped in a place it didn't want to be against its will. Yuki heard someone coming down the hall and made her decision. She was getting out of the palace. Just as the door was slammed open, Yuki grabbed the glass rose. The emperor, the one chasing after her, watched her with wide eyes and tried to get her to drop it. He called the guards, and they entered quickly. With all the swords now at her throat, Yuki saw she had only one option left. She smashed the rose._

"_Fire escaped and surrounded everyone, burning everything it touched. Everything, except Yuki. The girl felt something sharp touch her chest before the pressure disappeared. The girl blacked out, and the palace was engulfed in flames. When Yuki awoke, she was in a field, surrounded by trees, with a small stream running not too far away. The dragon had awakened and had taken her away from the palace. Yet it was no longer in sight. It had disappeared as soon as it confirmed Yuki was safe. The girl's life then went on, happier. She had found out she was pregnant, which she suspected was partially the dragon's doing. The dragon, had in fact, granted her with a son, as a way of saying thanks. Months later, she gave birth to a boy with Dragon abilities. This boy is known to us dragons as the first, true dragon slayer." _

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><p>Igneel's voiced died down, and Lucy stared at him with wide eyes. That was a very different type of story her mama would tell her, but she loved it anyway. She was going to ask Igneel for another of his stories- the dragon had a way with words that Lucy loved. The story pulled her in and she enjoyed the feelings it gave her. However, it was late, and as if there was some unspoken signal, Natsu and Lucy yawned widely in unison, making the dragon laugh.<p>

"Sleep, you two. Tomorrow's going to be a big day," Igneel advised, and the two children agreed with no complaint (something the dragon was thankful for). Natsu curled into a little ball, comfy against the fire dragon's side, with a wing resting over him. Lucy snuggled deep into the bed, waiting for sleep to claim her.

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><p>It was around one o'clock in the morning when Igneel stirred. He heard the pitter-patter of little feet against stone and cracked open an eyelid, unnoticeably to Lucy. The little girl was making her way towards him, dragging along her green blanket. She crawled under his wing, where Natsu was lying, and rested her head on his underbelly, just like the young dragon slayer. Smiling, Igneel closed his eye folded his wing slightly so he was embracing the two children. He quickly drifted back to sleep, briefly wondering what Natsu's reaction would be like when he wakes up, with Lucy curled up beside him.<p>

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><p><em><strong>Cut! <strong>That's a wrap for now, folks!_

_So, do you like it so far? How did you like Igneel's story? I kind of based it off different dragon myths, and then crossed it with my imagination. The names, Dengen (power) and Yuki (courage) obviously have meaning. In every story I write, I try and make sure that the names have meaning._

_If you're worried this story will turn Lucy into a Mary-Sue, that is definitely not the case! Theres a reason why she accepted Igneel so well, and other things that will come into play later on. _

_I really enjoy writing little lucy and Natsu. They're not much different to their older counterparts (is that saying something about them?). More little Lucy and Natsu to come!_

_I appreciate reviews, so please press that button._

_Until next week,  
><strong>GreentreeFrog<strong>_


	2. Second day

**Hello again!** _This update was later than I wanted but it_ _couldn't be helped. I had a ridiculous amount of exams and assignments this week, and I've still got more to come. The joys of being in senior school... I should be able to update more than once a week when holidays come around, and they're only two weeks away after this week. Though, this chapter would hve been up a couple of hours ago if I didn't get distracted by playing Shukumei on piano from Fairy Tail OST. That song gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it! When I finally found sheet music for it, I had to play it! (all you musicians out there would understand... I hope)_

_Anyway, I just want to thank ALL of you for the wonderful response this story got! I want to especially thank those who reviewed, as well as those who favourited/alerted this story! I appreciate it- a lot. This story was originally written because I needed a break from studying, and to get the kind of response it did... I was just shocked. And I had a massive ego for the rest of the week (it drove my friends nuts, sorry Steff, Chenice, Dassa)_

_Anywho, this chapter was fun to write, but be prepared for fluffyness! :D_

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><p>Igneel was the first to stir when the sun rose. He moved his wing slightly after breathing in a deep breath and opening his eyes. The red glow that the sun made shining through the thin membrane of skin on his wing covered the two small, sleeping children lying next to his belly. The dragon couldn't resist a smile when he saw the position of his wards. Lucy was curled up in a little ball, blonde locks spilling out behind her, her little arms wrapped around Natsu's stomach. The boy was lying with his body protectively curled around Lucy, his chin was resting on the top of her head and his legs curled around hers. He was hugging the little girl close to him in his sleep, something neither of the children were obviously aware of. If they were older, the position they were sleeping in would be seen as intimate, a way only two lovers slept. However, as children, there was only one way to describe how they looked in that moment.<p>

Cute.

No, not cute. Absolutely _adorable._

Igneel laughed, the position was better than he imagined. Now all he had to do was wait for one of them to wake up…

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><p>Natsu yawned and tried stretching his arms and legs. Key word, <em>tried.<em> All his sleep-hazy mind was able to comprehend was that he was hugging something soft and fragile. Cracking open his eyes, visions of red greeted him. Blinking quickly, Natsu quickly filtered out the red light and discerned the shape of Lucy.

Wait…

Lucy?

"Ah!" he yelled loudly, releasing the girl and standing up quickly.

The shout had caused Lucy to wake up, which was not a good thing. Lucy was definitely not a morning person. "Why are you shouting?" she asked after a yawn, giving the dragon slayer a death glare.

"I- just… -You, uh!" Natsu kept shouting, throwing up his hands in the air and sticking out his tongue like he tasted something yucky. "I can't believe I was_ hugging _a_ girl_!"

The words ran through Lucy's mind a couple of times until it finally registered. Standing up, an evil purple aura surrounding her, she backed away from Natsu. "You hugged me?"

Natsu glared back defiantly. "It wasn't by choice!" he explained, crossing his arms, "I just woke up like that… wait, what were you doing sleeping here, anyway?"

Lucy's evil aura disappeared as quickly as it came. She blushed, looking down at the ground. "I couldn't sleep," she mumbled. "You looked comfy with Igneel, so I thought I would try lying with him too." Natsu stared at the girl, getting whiplash by the sudden change in mood.

And then entered the voice of the seemingly forgotten dragon. "It seems you two are awake," there was a definite note of humour in his voice, something both the children noticed.

"Be quiet!" Natsu snapped. "I bet you had something to do with this!"

"Me? No, this was all your own doing, both you and Little Lucy," Igneel said, surprisingly patient with the boy. "Now if you're both up, it's time to start the day." He lifted his wing as an indication that the children should get moving, blinding them both with a sudden burst of sunlight in the process. Lucy grumbled under her breath but did what she was told, snatching up the green blanket from the ground and walking further into the cave, where her bag was waiting.

Natsu refused to budge, angering the dragon a little, though it was not like the boy cared at all. No, it seemed that Igneel had whacked him over the head one too many times… "_Now, _Natsu, or no fire. At all." This must have been a really scary threat to Natsu, because even before Igneel had finished his threat, he was off like a speeding bullet, gathering his things for the day.

Lucy giggled when she saw the fear in Natsu's eyes, and had to wonder what Igneel meant. Maybe he was talking about fire training… but that didn't matter, she had a totally different problem! She couldn't figure out what to wear! Normally her mama did that for her, but here mama wasn't here now and Lucy doubted a dragon or his adoptive son would have any sense in clothing. Groaning, she sorted through her clothes before settling on a white shirt and a cute pink skirt. She found some fuzzy pink boots too, which she put on her feet, and grabbed a pink ribbon. This was another problem. She had no idea of how to do her own hair. Once again, her mama would do it, and if not her mama, then a maid would see to it. Groaning again, Lucy flopped down onto the moss bed.

Igneel heard her frustrated groans, and grew curious as to what was the problem. His golden eyes easily picking out the blonde child in the dark cave, the dragon crawled further in so his snout could touch the girl if he wanted to.

"What is the problem, little Lucy?" he asked and Lucy jumped, surprised at the proximity of the voice.

She sat up and showed Igneel the ribbon. "I can't do my hair! Mama normally does it and she's not here! Can you do it?" Lucy honestly didn't know why she asked the dragon. Maybe it was her acting on the slither of hope that the dragon, could in fact, do her hair. That slither of hope vanished quite quickly though, when Igneel snorted, causing flames to erupt from his nose.

"Do I look like I can do your hair?" he asked dryly before shaking his head. "I would probably burn it before I could tie a bow with that puny bit of ribbon. Natsu! Come here!" Lucy winced and blushed at the same time. She had been stupid in asking Igneel, and now he had gotten Natsu involved too. The little boy raced into the cave and climbed on top of Igneel's head, bending over so he could look the dragon in the eye, albeit a bit upside down. "Do Lucy's hair."

"_What?" _both exclaimed at the same time.

"I don't want _him_ touching my hair! He has cooties!"

"Doing hair is a GIRLY thing! I'm not a _girl_! Are you stupid?" That comment got Natsu another whack over the head with Igneels tail (in an impressive display of contortionism on the Dragon's part, as Natsu was still on his head).

"Listen, both of you. Natsu, if you do Lucy's hair I'll let you eat whatever you want for the rest of the day. Lucy, you can either let Natsu do your hair, or not have it done at all. It's your choice." Igneel decreed, looking sternly at the children.

Now both children had a bit of a dilemma. Natsu definitely wanted the whole 'eat whatever you want' reward, but he _really_ did not want to do something girly, like doing hair. Lucy on her part, absolutely _needed_ her hair to be done! It felt unnatural without anything in it, and it would get messy and tangled if she didn't put it up. On the other hand, she didn't want Natsu touching her hair. Who knew what the boy would do with it. It was a win-lose situation for both of them.

Their eyes met warily, sizing each other up. Then, after a moment, as if there was some unspoken signal, they both nodded. "Fine."

Natsu jumped off Igneel's head, landing lightly on his feet. He walked over to Lucy, snatching the pink (shudder) ribbon from her hand. He held it in front of his eyes by his index finger and thumb, holding it away from himself like it was some kind of dead creature or something smelly.

"Mama sometimes braids my hair or does it in two plaits. You can just tie it up if you want," Lucy suggested, a bit hesitantly.

Natsu shrugged and pushed down with his hands on her shoulders, telling her he wanted her to sit down. Lucy obliged, sitting down on the bed. She felt Natsu's warm hands start to brush through her hair, blushing when she realised that it felt nice. It soon became painfully clear that Natsu had no idea about how to do hair. He tried a number of things, but they must not have been to his liking because he quickly pulled the bow apart as soon as he was finished. Lucy was almost glad that there was no mirror around. She didn't want to see the messes Natsu caused. Though, after about ten minutes of Natsu trying different styles, he finally pulled his hands away from her hair.

"Done!" he exclaimed proudly. Lucy frowned, still feeling the hair on the back of her neck, her bangs on her shoulders, and her fringe on her forehead. Natsu ran around the cave, finding what he was looking for and handing it to Lucy. "Ta-da!"

Lucy took the thick bit of glass Natsu handed her and found that it was a mirror… sort of. Staring at her reflection, Lucy secretly liked the hair style Natsu gave her. He had gathered up the top layer of her hair, pulling it to one side and tying it up with the ribbon. It would keep her hair relatively neat, and it was simple. "Wow, thanks Natsu!"

The boy shrugged, running out of the cave. "C'mon! I want breakfast!" With a jolt, Lucy realised that Igneel was no longer in the cave. She must have missed his exit (though how that was possible, no one knew- a dragon, or lack of, was very hard to miss). Jumping off the bed, Lucy followed Natsu out into the bright sunlight, where Igneel was waiting. The dragon was standing tall and proud, eyeing her hair quickly.

"Cute," he said and then lowered himself down as much as he could. "As I know what Natsu wants to have for breakfast, I also know that you would be unable to eat it," this statement puzzled Lucy a little, and in a way, she didn't want to know what Igneel meant. "So I gathered some apples for you. Enjoy." Then, to the little celestial mage's shock, Igneel pulled a whole _tree_ from behind him, roots and all. He set it down gently in front of Lucy, careful not to let any of the branches touch her. "Unfortunately, you'll have to pick the apples yourself, I'm rather hindered by my size, you see."

Lucy nodded slowly. This had to be the strangest breakfast, no scratch that, strangest morning of her life. And it was all thanks to a hair-savvy dragon slayer and his tree uprooting dragon. "T-that's fine, I think."

"Please pick your apples quickly, I have further use for this tree."

"Yeah, Luce, quick! I'm _hungry_!" Natsu whined. Still utterly perplexed, Lucy did as the dragon said, picking several apples off the tree. One apple for breakfast, and the others for when she was feeling a bit peckish. Done collecting her spoils, Lucy trotted away from the tree, cradling the apples in her arms.

Once she was a safe enough distance away, Igneel sat up a bit and took a small breath. Then, in the blink of an eye, the apple tree was in flames. "Alright!" Natsu shouted excitedly, pumping his fist up in the air. He ran towards the fire, stopping when he could feel the flames start to lick his skin. By this point, Lucy had dropped her apples, wondering if Natsu was insane, and if Igneel was delusional if he let his adoptive son that close to the fire. She stood frozen, unabled to look away.

And then the unthinkable happened.

Lucy heard a slurping sound, like someone was trying to suck something up through a straw. Then, the fire that consumed the apple tree decreased, until all that was left was a pink-haired boy patting his stomach as if he was full.

"Mmmm! That hit the spot!" exclaimed Natsu, all energized and filled with magic power.

"Y-y-you… YOU ATE FIRE!" Lucy screamed, stomping over to Natsu. She grabbed his head, forcing open his mouth, staring inside it to see if the inside was badly burnt. It wasn't, quite surprisingly.

"Ae ou er ee ooooo!" (_Can you let me go!)_

"Lucy, let go of Natsu," Igneel said sternly and Lucy dropped her hands, stepping away from the boy. "Now if you'll let me explain…" the dragon drifted off and Lucy nodded. "Dragon slayers get their power from eating the element they wield. A fire dragon slayer, like Natsu, can consume fire to make themselves more powerful, and not have any negative effect on them whatsoever. An iron dragon slayer would have to eat iron. An air dragon slayer could eat air. You get it?" Lucy nodded after thinking it through. It sort of made sense. "Now, time to start lessons. Lucy, I'll begin to teach you fire magic, is that ok with you?"

"Sure," she said, finally grabbing an apple and taking a big bite out of it.

"Can I help you teach her, father?" Natsu asked excitedly. He had never shown another human his fire abilities. Perhaps Lucy would finally realise how awesome he was if he showed her his power.

"No. You, go work on your stances."

"Naw, but stances are _boring!_" Natsu whined, crossing his arms over his chest. To Lucy, he looked like a little boy complaining to his father, and perhaps, she mused, he really was.

Igneel huffed, sending a spurt of flame in Natsu's direction. "They may be boring now, but once you get to the more powerful levels, the stances are important for controlling your magic! You don't want to accidently burn someone like Lucy, do you?" Natsu grumbled a quiet 'no', and stomped off in the opposite direction of the stream. Igneel watched him go until he was out of sight. Shaking his head slightly, the dragon turned back to Lucy. "When you finish eating, we'll start."

Lucy hurriedly finished her meal. She quickly ran to the stream for a drink of fresh water, and then returned to the dragon, sitting down cross-legged in front of his snout. "I'm ready," she told the dragon confidently. Igneel noticed her confident countenance with amusement. Having Lucy stay with himself and Natsu was one of the best decisions the dragon had ever made (except, of course, the decision to take Natsu in rather than eating the poor boy. Humans were disgusting, after all, their bones easily got stuck in his teeth. Er, not that Igneel had any experience with that, though…).

"I see you're ready. Alright then. Close your eyes, Little Lucy." Igneel paused, waiting for the girl to follow his instructions. "Ok. I want you to breathe deeply, and relax. The method in which I'm going to teach you fire magic is a little complex for your age, but I have no doubt that you'll be able to do it. Now, I want you to feel around yourself- no not with your hands- and just relax. Tell me when you feel something."

Lucy sat with her eyes closed, frowning a little in concentration. She had no idea as to _what_ she was supposed to feel, yet she followed Igneel's instructions. She sat for what felt like hours, fidgeting every now and then, squirming when she felt a bug crawl up her leg.

Eventually, she felt _something._ It was hard to explain. It was sort of like a tingly feeling at her hip. She moved her hand over to where she felt the strange feeling, and cool metal met her fingertips. It made no sense to Lucy, and she almost opened her eyes, but the dragon spoke before she could.

"Very good, you are obviously feeling something, considering you just moved your hand over to your silver gate key," Igneel complimented, then continued. "Don't open your eyes. Keep feeling around you, search for similar feelings like the one you just felt."

Now that Lucy knew what she was doing, the little girl tried reaching out around her, reflexively moving her arms around her too. Then, she felt like someone had zapped her with lightning. There, sitting right in front of her, was a massive area, covered in the tingly feeling. It felt a little different than the feeling at her hip, but the undertones were the same. Opening her eyes, Lucy saw that the area covered in the tingly feeling was… Igneel?

"W-what?" Lucy asked herself in confusion.

The dragon lifted himself up so he was in a 'sitting' position. "What you just felt…" Igneel paused, "Was magic itself." Lucy gasped. That was magic? That tingly feeling? "Yes, that was magic. Did you feel how my magic, and your gate key's was different? And how I seemed to have so much more, or rather, a more intense version?" She nodded. "That is because I am a creature of magic, my species being born from magic. Your gate key, however, contains little magic itself, because most of the magic rests with both the wielder and the spirit. The key is merely a tool for calling the spirit closer to you, like a summons."

"They still felt different though…" Lucy mused. "Yours felt… warmer, I guess."

Igneel seemed surprised that she picked up on that. "That's very good that you were able to pick that up on your first try. It's a good thing that you were able to pick that up that quickly, it means we'll save a lot of time." Lucy beamed, glad to hear she was doing well. To be honest, all she felt like she was doing was floundering around in the dark like a lost animal with no idea how to survive.

"Why is it different, Igneel?"

"It is different because the type of magic that your key contains is different to my own. Your key contains summoning magic, linked directly with a celestial spirit. My magic, however, is pure fire. Now, I want you to practice telling the difference between my magic and your key's. I want you to clearly know what fire magic feels like, and how it is different to the other magics around you."

Lucy closed her eyes again and focussed on her key, feeling the colder, lighter magic. If she had to think of a way to describe the magic Crux's key contained, she would say that the magic reminded her of a star. Very bright and pretty, but it felt far away, as if she'd never properly reach it. Igneel's fire magic, however, was hot and energetic, seemingly with a life of its own. Lucy had no idea how the dragon had not yet burned them all down, with the massive amount of fire magic coursing through his body. In her mind, she reached out to feel a tendril of the fire magic, to see if it was really as hot as it seemed.

"No Lucy," Igneel's stern voice cut through her head, making her lose focus and the tendril flew further away from her grasp. "Do not attempt to draw power from my magic. At this stage, you would very quickly lose control and you could easily die from an overload of power. Later, I will let you, but for now, you must try to restrain yourself."

Lucy's young mind was reeling. She had little idea as to what had just happened, but Igneel's words had felt a little unneeded. "But I was just trying to see if the magic was really hot, like fire!" Lucy whined.

"That is what you _think_ you were doing. However, what you were _really_ doing was starting to draw from my magic, and use it as your own. I will explain it in more depth later, but for now, I just want you to try and avoid touching my magic. Besides, weren't you worried about getting burned?"

"Not really," Lucy admitted. "I mean, after spending a night with you and Natsu, under your wing, I'm not really scared of you now. You didn't eat me or burn me then, so you won't eat or burn me now… well I hope you won't."

Igneel was shocked at her response. Although she did not look it, Lucy was quite mature for her age. "I don't know whether to laugh or be insulted. Am I losing my touch as a terrifying creature?" Lucy giggled and nodded her head, slipping back into the personality of a five-year old. "Ok, time to continue with lesson." Lucy immediately sobered up. "Now that you know what my magic feels like, I want you to try and imitate it, and draw it around your own hand or finger."

"What?" Lucy exclaimed, uncrossing her legs and staring at the dragon as if he was crazy. "I don't know what your magic feels like- you wouldn't let me touch it, 'member?"

"Yes," the dragon said with the same patience she had seen him use with Natsu, "but you know what it's outward appearance feels like. I want you to try and imitate that outward appearance."

Lucy huffed but nodded, lifting her hand up to her face. Screwing up her face in adorable little frown, she tried making magic the same as Igneel's appear around her hand. It was hard, very hard.

Several times, Lucy had managed to get the magic to gather around her finger, but it wasn't the right type, it was the same magic she felt with Crux's key. During each of those times, without her noticing, Igneel would funnel a tiny sliver of his magic into her, giving her the tools to succeed in her task. He wanted her to feel the magic inside her, not just pull it from around herself. The amount of magic Igneel would give Lucy was not enough to let her finish the task using his magic, but enough so that his fire slowly altered her own magic, until she was capable of making her own flame using solely her own magic. But that would have to wait- she was struggling to get her hand even just a tiny bit warmer than it's normal temperature.

After around twenty minutes into the exercise, Lucy almost had it. She was able to gather a sufficient amount of magic around her hand, but it was still lacking a certain quality to make it imitate Igneel's magic. Lucy scrunched her eyes closed tightly, almost figuring out what was needed, when-

"_IGNEEEEEEEEEEEL!"_ the little pink-haired boy, who was _supposed_ to be practicing his stances, ran into their little space, accidently knocking Lucy on his way over to Igneel. The little girl screamed in fury- she almost had it! Standing up, she grabbed Natsu's scarf and pulled, effectively pulling him towards the ground. "Oof!"

"Stupid Natsu, I almost had it, you baka!" Lucy growled, hauling him up by his scarf so she could glare at him.

Natsu gulped. He had no idea what he just did, but Lucy sure seemed angry. Very angry. "Er, sorry?" Natsu tried, just wanting her to release him and stop glaring.

"Yeah, you will be," Lucy said, letting go of the scarf, making Natsu drop to the ground again.

"Lucy, enough," Igneel said, gazing sternly at her. "And perhaps it's time we finished fire lessons for the day."

"But Igneel, I almost got it!" Lucy complained, gazing up at the dragon with her cutest puppy dog eyes.

But it didn't help that Igneel was immune to puppy-dog-eyes, being a dragon and all. "No. We will continue tomorrow." Lucy huffed, and stood up, stomping back towards the cave.

"What was that all about?" Natsu asked, scratching his head. Igneel shook his head at him.

"Go to her and spend time with her," Igneel told his adoptive son.

Natsu looked like he wanted to complain, but the dragon was giving him a scary look. "Alright," Natsu said, turning tail and running off after Lucy.

He found the girl lying down on the moss bed with a thin book in her hands, muttering angrily. He tried to see the cover of the book, but then he remembered that Igneel hadn't really taught him how to read properly. Instead, he tried looking at the book at a different angle, to see what type of book she was reading- if it had pictures. It was an odd book, the pages were black with white dots covering them, some dots were connected with thin lines. There was some text in yellow in the corner, but not a lot. Just a short paragraph.

Lucy noticed the boy trying to look at the book over her shoulder, and snapped the book shut. "What do you want?" she asked coldly.

"Nuthin'," Natsu shrugged, putting his hands behind his head. "Watcha reading?"

Lucy scowled but answered nonetheless. "It's a book with all the different constellations in it. Mama said it'd be good for me to learn them."

"What's a c-c-const-a-"

"Constellation?" Lucy corrected, sitting up and patting a spot on the moss bed beside her. She figured she'd be with Natsu for a while. Might as well make him feel comfortable. Natsu sat down on the bed, and she opened the book again. "Constellations are groups of stars, that have been made into a picture and been given a name." This explanation was one of the best he was going to get from a five-year-old, so Natsu took it. "I'll show you some of the constellations tonight, if you want."

Natsu nodded. "Cool! Can you tell me any of the names now?"

Lucy nodded and pointed to a group of interconnected stars on one of the pages. "See that one? That one's called Leo. Mama said Leo is the leader of the zodiac, or the gold key spirits. Mama has three gold key spirits, she's so powerful!" Natsu heard the pride in Lucy's voice. It was obvious she looked up to her mother. This brought feeling of sadness to the dragon slayer. He had never known his mother- he'd been with Igneel for as long as he could remember. "Anyway, Leo's my favourite out of _all_ of them! Oh, look here! That one's Ak-waw-i-us (_Aquarius)_!"

And so Lucy spent the next hour explaining about the different constellations, and what they meant to celestial wizards, like her and her mum. When night time came around, Igneel found Natsu and Lucy laying side-by-side on the ground, staring up at the sky. Lucy was pointing out the different constellations to the dragon-slayer, but Natsu kept complaining about how they were harder to see without the white lines connecting them. Igneel watched them fondly as the two grew closer. It would be sad, for all of them, even the dragon, when Lucy would have to leave, but perhaps he can arrange it so the two children 'run into' each other in the near future.

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><p><strong>So...<strong>_good? Bad? did you love it? or Hate it? tell me in a review!_

_Some interesting things were said in this chapter- the whole 'Leo being Lucy's favourite' will be a useful plot point in the future *evil grin* drama, drama, drama! _

_If you haven't figured it out, the style Natsu did for Lucy's hair is how she has it in the Anime/manga most of the time. _

_So will Lucy be able to conjure a flame? Will the two children become bff's? What's this about motion sickness? And what was that about kidnappers? all of this in the next chapter!_

_Until next week,  
>-GreentreeFrog<em>


	3. Third Times a Charm

**Sorry**_ about not updating last week, I don't really have an excuse... but this chapter is about 200 words longer than the last, so that should keep you happy now... and the end should have you wanting the next chapter ASAP..._

_**IMPORTANT:** I'm thinking of writing a series of oneshots and drabbles focussed mainly on the Zodiac and the other celestial spirits, when they're not fighting for Lucy on Earthland. I'm curious about how many of you would read it. So shoot me a review or PM if you're interested in seeing something like that._

_Chancey (The Rose Angel), a shout out to you for getting me motivated (in a roundabout way of course, you couldn't care less about this story, you're more focussed on what ELSE I'm writing). Tell me if you recognise the song!_

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><p>The next day went pretty much the same way as the first. Natsu and Lucy both woke up together, jumping apart quickly when they found themselves cuddled up. Lucy then got changed for the day, and Natsu did her hair in the same style he did the day before. After breakfast, it was back to training.<p>

Lucy was feeling pretty confident she could produce a flame, but after that first day where she excelled beyond Igneel's expectations, she wasn't able to get any further. For around three hours she tried to get a flame to form around her hand, but her magic would just not do what she said. Put off at the lack of progress, the celestial mage spent the rest of the day playing with Natsu. Water fights were common, and the children even got Igneel to join at one point.

They ended the day with a bed time story, this time Lucy telling it. She didn't have the same way with words Igneel did, but her enthusiasm was enough, and Natsu and his dragon parent enjoyed it.

* * *

><p>Lucy woke up on her fourth day with Natsu and Igneel, cuddled up to something warm. Strangely enough, Lucy had gotten quite used to waking up curled against Natsu, with his hands wrapped around her protectively. By the end of the week, she wouldn't be able to sleep without him! Now that was a scary thought.<p>

Gently pulling herself away, Lucy stood up and stretched, her hands brushing Igneel's wing membrane, which was sheltering them from the weather. Natsu woke not long after from the loss of contact, and sat up blearily, giving Lucy a small, but toothy smile.

"Morning," he said, getting up also and pushing away Igneel's wing. Said dragon was still asleep, something strange, but not unheard of. "Let's get ready 'fore father wakes up."

Lucy nodded, and ducked under the wing. Running back into the cave, she chose her outfit for the day (blue shirt, and black shorts, a pink belt holding her key), and grabbed a blue ribbon. Truth be told, Lucy loved Natsu doing her hair. There was just something about it that to her, made it seem… well, she didn't know what it seemed like, as she was far too young to have any experiences in areas that matter, but she did know it felt… right.

Natsu, to her without even realising it, had become her best friend. Growing up in the place she lived, Lucy never really had any friends outside of the household staff or the children of her father's business partners, who usually were more concerned about playing princesses and fairies rather than pretending to be wizards, or playing with magic. It was depressing.

But Natsu was nothing like those other children. He wasn't afraid to get dirty and he absolutely loved magic. He couldn't stand princesses and the like- because all he was always on the dragon's side. He didn't care that her father was a super-rich business tycoon, or that she was a fragile little heiress. Natsu saw the real Lucy; he coaxed her out from the beginning of day one. Without even realising, the two had wormed their way into each other's hearts, and they would be there for eternity.

"Luce, you ok?" Natsu asked as he took the ribbon from her, "I mean, you've had this funny look on your face."

Lucy snapped out of her thinking. What on earth was Natsu talking about? "What funny look?" she asked, but as she did, she knew it was a mistake.

Natsu quickly brushed his fingers through Lucy's hair and she relaxed at the warm feeling. "Well…" the dragon slayer started, finishing with his brushing and tied up her hair. "It sorta looked like this." He came to stand in front of her, then scrunched up his face and poked out his tongue.

"I DID NOT LOOK LIKE THAT!" Lucy exclaimed in annoyance, hitting Natsu over the head. Really, how silly could her best friend get? She blushed at that thought. That was the first time she called Natsu her best friend (in her head at least) without realising.

"You're doing it again," he grinned cheekily, dashing off before Lucy had a chance to lay a hand on him.

"_Natsu!" _Lucy screamed, chasing after him and unintentionally waking up the dragon.

Igneel gazed around blearily for a moment at the seeming chaos. Natsu was running away from Lucy, cackling his little head off. Lucy was screaming at him, chasing after him with 'kill' in her body language. What on Earthland…?

"What in the name of Merlin is going on here?"

Like there was some sort of spell hidden in Igneel's voice, the two children froze in their positions (Lucy still had her hands outstretched, mere centimetres away from Natsu's scarf, and Natsu with one foot in the air, in mid run). Lucy had no idea why an awake Igneel had terrified her so much. Maybe it was because she was never the one to actually wake up the dragon. Igneel had always been awake before her, so Lucy had no idea whether the dragon was a grouch in the morning or not.

"Ah… father…" Natsu mumbled, unfreezing to face Igneel. The suspense was killing Lucy- why was Natsu acting like this? "You see… I was teasing Luce, and she didn't like it, so she started chasing me." Were Lucy's ears working? Did Natsu just admit that outright? She stared at the pink haired boy, and then at the dragon, alternatively switching her gazes. Igneel, too stared at the boy, contemplating for a moment, then-

"OUCH!" Natsu shouted, rubbing at the spot on his head where Igneel's tail had hit him. "Did you have to hit me _that_ hard?" he whined.

"Yes," Igneel stated simply. "You know I hate being woken up, and I could hardly hit Lucy, so you got the hit for both of you."

"But that's so unfair…"

"Life isn't fair Natsu, I thought I already told you that," the dragon deadpanned, before getting up. "Time to start the day, now that you have both so kindly woken me up." Lucy blushed, hearing the sarcasm in Igneel's voice. "I'll get you breakfast, Lucy. Both of you, stay here."

Lucy nodded, and watched as Igneel spread his large wingspan and took off. Then, she turned to Natsu. "What was that all about? And sorry for getting you hit…" She really did feel guilty about that, but was secretly pleased that the dragon hadn't hit her. That would have hurt.

Natsu shrugged it off, though winced when he felt the pain on his head. "Nah, it's alright. Sorry for teasing you like that."

That was another aspect of their friendship Lucy liked. While they almost continuously got into fights with each other, they were always quick to forgive and forget. When she had fought with the other girls about something, they would always hold it over her head, no matter how many times Lucy said sorry (and all for something that she didn't do).

The two children sat and talked about everything and nothing while they waited for Igneel to return with Lucy's breakfast. They spoke of the keys Lucy wanted to collect (she said she wanted to get all of the gold keys, something that no celestial mage in history had ever done before), and Natsu animatedly told her about how one day he would be the most powerful mage in Fiore. The half an hour Igneel was gone passed quickly, and before they knew it, the red dragon was back, with a deer carcass in his claws.

Lucy scrunched up her face a little at the sight of it, but ate it nonetheless.

"Now children," Igneel stated once Lucy had finished eating her portion of the deer and Natsu stopped eating the fire that the dragon supplied. The children stared up at him, waiting for him to continue. "While I was out, I picked up the scent of some thieves and highwaymen. As it's probably not a good idea to scare them off in broad daylight (because of that stupid, meddling council), I'll have to wait until tonight to get rid of them. But I want you two to stick together, and don't leave the area. I don't want you two to get seen or taken."

Natsu and Lucy nodded solemnly, heeding the warning but not entirely liking it. Natsu had promised Lucy that he would show her more of the forest that day, but now, they weren't allowed to do that.

"Naw…" Natsu whined. "But does that mean no lessons today?"

Igneel glared at him. "Of course there's going to be lessons! They'll just have to be together."

Both Natsu and Lucy pouted and glanced at each other warily. Who knew how disastrous combined lessons would be… and Lucy was so close to creating a flame! She didn't need Natsu distracting her! The blonde nodded eventually, but gave her pink-haired a threatening glare. A glare that said if-I-don't-create-a-fire-today-it's-all-your-fault!

"Excellent!" Igneel exclaimed, then spoke directly to Natsu. "You'll be working on your writing today. I don't need you burning Lucy with your fire- she doesn't have the same resilience against fire that you do." Natsu complained quite a bit at that, but with another whack over the head from Igneel's tail, the boy agreed. "Now Lucy, continue where you left off."

Lucy glared at Natsu one last time before sitting on the ground and closing her eyes. Getting back into what her dragon teacher called a 'meditative state', Lucy searched around herself for the magical power. When she felt Igneel's, she let herself come close to it so she had a better chance of replicating his magic. However, this time around, she felt a new magic, off to her right. It was very similar to Igneel's: hot, passionate and untamed, but this newer one felt a bit… wilder. The way it pulsed and jumped erratically was very familiar, the magic itself almost seeming to have its own personality. To Lucy, there was only one person this magic could belong to.

Natsu.

Not being able to resist this time around, Lucy reached out and latched onto Natsu's fiery magic energy. Instead of burning her, the magic surrounded her, almost in a hug-like way. It played with her own magic, creating the sensation of light-headedness for the young Celestial Fire mage. Wanting more, Lucy reached in further with her magic, curling it around the dragon slayer's own. She almost laughed aloud when the flames tickled her, and had to force open her eyes, retracting her magic.

To her right, Lucy saw Natsu bent over one of Igneel's arms lazily, a glazed look on his face. Igneel looked between him and Lucy, narrowing his eyes at the girl. For a moment, Lucy saw a thoughtful look on the dragon's face, but it was gone so quickly that the girl thought she imagined it.

"Lucy," Igneel reprimanded, glaring, "I thought I told you not to touch other beings' magic!" Lucy ducked her head, her feet were some of the most interesting things she'd ever seen!

"But it felt so _nice_," she tried to explain. "It didn't burn me at all!"

Igneel huffed, a spurt of fire erupting from his nose. "It was _dangerous_. Most of the time, no in fact _every time_ a foreign presence interacts with your personal magic, your magic would automatically seek out the source and destroy it. Sort of like a self defence mechanism. If Natsu's magic hadn't behaved the way it did, you would be dead- or seriously injured! The only way one could interact with another's magic is if the second party knowingly consents to them touching what is essentially their life force, except-" Igneel suddenly cut himself off, deep in thought.

"Except what, Igneel?" Lucy asked, suitably humbled from the reprimand, but still curious.

The dragon shook his head. "Nothing that would concern you, Little Lucy. Just get back to trying to conjure a flame." Before Lucy could respond, he turned his back to her, resuming Natsu's lesson.

_I would but it's so hard! And you won't let me touch the magic!_

Muttering darkly under her breath (childish curses directed at the dragon, who could, in fact, hear them), the celestial mage sat back in her original pose. Concentrating hard on the magic gathering around her hand, she tried replicating the feel of Igneel's magic. Yet, just like the many times before, that was an impossible task, the dragon's magic extremely difficult to replicate. Lucy's just didn't have the heart that she could feel from Igneel, even from the distance. Come to think of it, what she had been attempting to create the past few days was not anywhere near what she was supposed to be conjuring.

This time, Lucy focussed on her hand, rather than trying to make it hotter or replicating the magic, she concentrated on how the fire made her feel, what Natsu's fire felt like between her 'fingertips'. She felt the energy around her hand grow wilder, and faster at the same time. Pouring her heart into what she was doing, she wished, she _willed_ for the fire to appear around her hand. The magic around her hand continued to change, now feeling like lightning was running through her fingers.

_This is sort of how Igneel's was, once I got closer!_

And then she smelt the smoke.

Snapping open her eyes, Lucy stared at her finger, where on top, sat a tiny flame, like a candle.

"Igneel!" She yelled excitedly, getting up off the ground, while at the same time trying to keep her concentration so the flame wouldn't extinguish. "I did it!"

The dragon turned to face her, his big jaw morphing into something resembling a smile. He studied the flame balancing on her fingertip. It was nowhere near hot enough to burn a man, or even an animal, probably only hot enough to be used to spark a small campfire, but maybe, with a lot of practice, the young celestial (and now fire) mage would be able to use it for combat.

"Very good, Lucy!" exclaimed Igneel.

Natsu left his spot on the dragon's leg to see what the fuss was about. When he saw Lucy with her finger on fire, he wasn't scared for her safety (like any normal person would be), no, he was more worried about one thing in particular…

When Lucy saw Natsu heading towards her, she brandished her hand in front of him, so he could see the small fire.

"Look, Natsu!" Lucy showed off, grinning excitedly at her 'best friend'. However, Natsu didn't stop, not even when he was only a metre away from the girl. "Er, Natsu?"

But then, she felt something wet, and slightly slimy on her finger, and was about to complain, but she realised, right then, that that wet, slimy thing was... the Dragon Slayer's tongue. On her finger. The same finger the fire had been on. Lucy's eyes widened and she whipped her hand away from Natsu's face.

"_EW NATSU! WHY DID YOU LICK MY FINGER?"_

The boy stared at her with wide eyes, looking at her if she was some kind of goddess (or a really yummy meal). "Th-th-that was the _best_ fire I have _ever_ tasted!" he admitted.

_Best fire he ever tasted? What does…wait… HE ATE MY FIRE THAT STUPID DRAGON-BOY! _

"NATSU!" Snapping out of his stupor, the boy cackled almost evilly and took off running. Thanks to the fire, even the small portion that it was, he was filled with energy, running at incredible speeds. "GET BACK HERE!" Lucy ran after him, chasing him around the whole clearing.

Igneel was appalled at Natsu's manners. One does not just simply walk up to others and eat their fire! Though, it was very amusing watching Lucy chase his son around like that. The dragon had begun to doubt that Lucy would be able to conjure fire in the way he wanted her to- after all, the way in which she was learning fire magic was rather unorthodox, and there were plenty of easier ways. In fact, only very talented mages would be able to learn in the way Lucy was, because what she was conjuring, was essentially pure dragon fire.

* * *

><p>Lucy managed to catch Natsu via grabbing onto the scarf that was sitting around his neck. When she did catch him, she managed to throw the boy half way across the clearing (a feat that had the Dragon and the Slayer pondering her true strength, though of course, it could have been the anger doing it, too).<p>

When she had finished beating up her human companion, Lucy tried conjuring the flame again, but to her chagrin, she couldn't do it simply on the spot, like Natsu could. She had to get back into her meditating position, and even then, it took a while to get a small fire to appear on her finger.

The rest of the day was spent with Igneel instructing her on how to summon the flame quickly, though she was still having trouble by the time the sun set. Huffing in irritation, Lucy plopped onto the ground, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Why does it have to be so _hard_?" she whined.

"It's not hard!" Natsu said with a cheeky grin on his face, snapping his fingers, making a flame appear. Lucy gave him a nasty look. It just wasn't fair.

"Now children," Igneel interfered before another fight could start, "I want you to go into the cave and stay there, at least until I come back."

"Where are you going, Igneel?" Lucy asked, Natsu nodding at the question, like he wanted to ask it himself.

The dragon snapped his jaws, morphing them into a terrifying snarl. "I have some bandits to scare off, remember?" Lucy 'eeped' at the look on his face and slid behind Natsu without even realising it, making him her unwitting shield against the dragon. Igneel took note of this, his terrifying look turning back into something softer. "Now in you go." He nudged them with a wing and the two stumbled into the cave. Igneel made sure they were safely inside before taking off.

Natsu and Lucy watched him go, the boy wishing more than anything he was with the dragon, flying with him on his back. Sighing, he turned to Lucy. "Now what do we do?" he asked, bored now that his father had left.

Lucy frowned, thinking over their options. "We can't look at the constellations tonight, there are too many clouds, I think it's going to rain soon. And we can't really use fire in the cave, it's too dangerous." Natsu shrugged, sniffing the air. Lucy was right, it would rain soon. He could practically _smell_ the water.

Not long after Lucy made the prediction (which Natsu confirmed), it came true. Rain poured quite heavily from the heavens, completely drenching the ground in a matter of seconds. Lucy was briefly worried for Igneel, but Natsu quickly relieved her, telling her the dragon would be fine.

Deciding to spend the night drawing on some paper Lucy brought with their own home-made charcoal, the two curled up together near the moss bed. The rain continued to pour, and there was still no sign of Igneel.

"Hey Luce, look at this!" Natsu proudly held up his picture, a crudely drawn picture of what Lucy believed to be Igneel, her and Natsu, flying around- and were those volcanos she saw in the background? "Do you like it?" he asked eagerly.

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, it's great! Look at mine!" she held her work of art up so he could see. To Natsu, it looked like a bunch of random figures- there was a mermaid, a goat standing on its hind legs, a man with six sticks poking out of his back (Natsu assumed they were probably legs of some sort, by the way the ends flicked out), a lion, a sheep with horns, a bull, a strange spider-looking thing with a tail, with a strange spikey thing on the end, a fish, a set of scales with a smiley face on it, two identical stick figures, a stick figure with a dress, and a man with four legs.

"What are they?" he asked, scratching his head.

"They're the zodiac, silly! I only know what Ak-war-ee-us, Cappy-corn and Cancer look like, so I had to guess the r-"

Natsu slapped his hand over her mouth quickly, looking frantically at the cave entrance. Lucy gave him a glare that would kill puppies, and even licked his hand, but he refused to budge.

"_Listen,_" Natsu hissed, still staring at the cave entrance.

Lucy did as she was told, straining her ears. At first, she couldn't hear anything, but then-

"Kuso! When will this stupid rain stop? We need to find shelter, we can't light a fire in this weather!"

There was he sound of many feet squelching on the ground, heading in the cave's direction. "'Course not, manuke! C'mon, Cob, I think I see something up ahead!"said a new voice, the first snorting.

"Sure, sure, Zanrae, just like you saw the _last_ time?" piped up a third, getting closer to the children's little hideaway. By the sounds of their footsteps, there had to be at least fifteen men heading in their direction. Eyes widening, the children reached the conclusion at the same time. They needed to move. As quietly as possible, they grabbed their stuff and Lucy's bag, hiding it under a rock further in the cave. Then, finding a small outcropping, the two hid behind it, and silently waited.

"Actually, I think Zanrae is right this time, look!" The pace of the footsteps increased, until the group of seventeen men rain into the cave. "Whew, I never thought we'd get out of that rain!"

"C'mon guys, time to light a fire then," the first, Cob, said gruffly. The smell of smoke reached the children's noses, but bothering neither of them.

The men sat around the fire, joking around, eating heartily. One would almost think they were just a normal group of men stuck in a cave, waiting for the downpour to stop. That is, until you heard the subject of their conversation.

"Good haul, this time!"

"Hehe, yeah. We made 80000J easily, and of course, we got that _bonus._"

"Hey, Zanrae, what do we need to do to get some entertainment around here?"

Then, to Lucy's horror, and slight surprise, 'Zanrae' pulled a silver key from his belt, brandishing it wildly. "Ya know, that was exactly what I was thinking… Gate of the lyre, Lyra!" a lot of smoke later, and a celestial spirit appeared. She looked like an angel, white wings poking out behind her blue dress, her shining hair held back in her bonnet. She was holding a lyre closely to her chest. The spirit's expression, however, did not match her beautiful appearance. Her face was downcast, and by the looks of her eyes, she had lost all hope, all spirit (no pun intended). "Yo, spirit, sing us a song, and make it good."

The men leered at the spirit, eying her appreciatively. The spirit hunched slightly, subtly shielding herself with her lyre. "A-as you wish, master." Clearing her throat, the spirit, Lyra strummed a chord, opening her mouth and started to sing.

"_Lacrimosa dies illa  
>Qua resurget ex favilla"<em>

Natsu and Lucy listened in awe. They had never heard something so beautiful in their short lives. The song was slightly depressing, but the way Lyra sang, the music was like a lullaby to them.

"_Judicandus homo reus.  
>Huic ergo-"<em>

_SLAP!_

With wide eyes, Lucy peeked over the edge of the outcropping, dreading what she saw. There stood a tall man, with messy hair, features shrouded in darkness, with his hand in the air, as if he had just slapped the spirit, which, in fact he did, judging by the way Lyra was cradling her cheek in her hand, tears forming in her eyes.

"_I said,_" Zanrae hissed, "_make it good._Not that crap you were singing then!"

It broke the young celestial mage's heart seeing a spirit like this. She was absolutely positive that if he mama were there, she would be yelling at the mean man, taking the key off him. However her mama wasn't there, and so she would have to do. Seeing the spirit lying there like that, it was the last straw for Lucy.

Ignoring Natsu's silent protests, Lucy stepped out into the open, confronting the man abusing Lyra. At first, Zanrae was surprised that she was there, but then his face twisted into a twisted grin.

"Oh ho, looky at what we have here, guys!" he said loudly, as if to get his comrades' attentions. Rolling his eyes, Natsu also came out from behind the rock, standing protectively by Lucy's side. "Oh, there's two little munchkins!" The men leered again, but little Lucy was unfazed.

"Stop hurting that celestial spirit," she said as firmly as she could, her back straight, looking like every part of the heiress she was.

The man grinned at the girl's show of bravery and defiance. Perhaps he would keep her… as his slave, of course. The boy had not said a word, remaining silent while glaring at the bandits gathering around him. "So you know what it is, then?" Zanrae asked unnecessarily, gesturing at Lyra's whimpering form.

Lucy scowled. "Celestial spirits are not 'it's! She has feelings, like humans! They're not toys!"

Zanrae scowled at her. "And how would you know? You're just a child!"

"Because, I'm a celestial mage too!"

Lucy was expecting the man to reel in shock, but that was not what he did. Instead, he burst out laughing. After calming down, he grinned maliciously at them. "Guys, seize the kids." In a split second, Natsu and Lucy had gone from standing in the middle of a circle of men, to being held against their will, lifted high into the air.

"Let me go!" Lucy yelled.

"Seriously, let us go, or you'll _really_ regret it!"

Zanrae smirked. "Where's your spirits now, princess? And what are you gonna do, punk, glare me to death? Tie them up. They can get us a couple hundred Jewel each," he dismissed, waving his hand.

Lucy struggled in her captor's hold, but Natsu had had enough. He closed his eyes, summoning flames around his hands, making his own captor drop him in surprise. Everyone froze for a moment, staring at the six-year-old, pink haired kid. "Let. Lucy. Go," Natsu said dangerously, the flames around his hands expanding.

Getting over his shock, Zanrae glared at the kid. "Make me."

Like those two words were a catalyst, Natsu jumped into action, burning everything he could touch. Humans screamed as they were burnt, clutching the injured appendages closely. However, what Natsu was not counting on, was some of the thieves were mages themselves. The six-year-old had little experience with combat, and was soon overpowered by the mages. Lyra watched on helplessly, having no combat abilities of her own.

Zanrae tied up Natsu personally, making sure his bonds were extra tight, whacking him over the head hard so the boy would be too disorientated to use magic. "Not so fired up now, huh?" he teased, shoving Natsu to the ground. Lucy whimpered as she watched her protector fall. Her fire magic would be useless- she was only able to summon a flame for the first time that morning, and she had no idea about how to fight with it anyway! What were they going to do? She couldn't sense Igneel's magic at all, meaning he was still searching for the men that currently held them captive.

They were never going to get out of this.

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><p>Splashes sounded in quick succession as a tall figure ran in the direction of a mountain. He hated the fact that the weather chose <em>now<em> of all times to rain- he was so close to finally completing his job!

Bursting through the trees, into a clearing, the man was briefly illuminated by a flash of lightning, the first of the storm. He was covered by a cloak, the edges in tatters, his handsome face framed with messy brown hair, stubble forming around his chin and mouth. His sharp eyes noticed the cave straight ahead, grinning in satisfaction. Finally, he had caught up.

Running into the mouth of the cave, Gildarts was slightly shocked at the sight that greeted him.

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><p><strong>So<strong>_now I'm REALLY twisting the timeline *evil grin*_

_So, some translations: Kuso = [swear word of your choice] (but generally sh** or F***)  
>Manuke = morondumbass_

_The song was actually Lala's lullaby, from -Man. To me, it seemed like the type of song that a depressed Lyra would sing: beautiful, but slightly sad. Go look it up!_

_I have a deal for y'all: IF I GET 15+ REVIEWS, I WILL UPDATE ON SUNDAY! That is a fair deal, is it not?  
>So, until next week (or Sunday, it's up to you),<em>

_**GreentreeFrog**_


	4. The Fourth Mage

**_Well, _**_you all kept you end of the bargin, so I think its about time I kept mine. This chapter has a little swearing in it, curtesy of Gildarts, but I promise, it's not that bad. _

_Now, because its Sunday... I HAVE TIME TO RESPOND TO REVIEWS! YAY! Sorry I haven't been able to do it before now, but I've been busy, so, better late than never, I guess!_

_**xXx**_

_**Lady**_**_ Shisou_**:_ hehe I hope I don't give you diabetes from the amount of fluff :3 glad you enjoy it :)_

_**xXNaLu-fanXx: **I'm glad you think they're cute- I find it hard to write little NaLu, I'm always wanting them to act more mature or something, so I'm happy you like it!_

**O**_**htaSazuku**_: _I kept my promise :D here's your update! and yes, I really enjoyed writing that scene with Natsu licking Lucy's finger. Believe it or not, I actually got the idea for that part when my dog came up and started licking my peanut butter from my finger when I was trying to eat breakfast... but yes, what I mean to say is thanks for your review!_

_**NatsuxLucy FTW: **I was mean and stopped 'cause what's life without the cliff hangers? You'd have nothing to look forward to! Thanks for the review :)_

_**Kyara17: **Merci pour la revue! ...And that's all I'm going to say in French for now, because while I can hold a conversation in your beautiful language, my spelling is attrocious! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! Natsu and Lucy won't be little for too much longer, though, so you better enjoy it while you can ^-^_

_**summer's lullaby: **thanks, I'm happy you're enjoying it :D_

_**Ksrjah: **hehe don't kill your poor keyboard- here's your review, take it and run! ;) and yes, I'm a sucker for the fluff, so most, if not all interactions between Natsu and Lucy will lead onto some kind of romantic turnpoint... and that whole thing with Natsu's magic, I'm starting to think the idea behind it (you'll understand later) is a little cliche, but I couldn't resist. And you think they're in character? really? whew, that got rid of some of my worries concerning this story- I don't want them to be too OOC! Thank you so much for your review!_

_**Sin of the Fallen: **yes, Lala's lullaby IS pretty beautiful, that's why I chose it :D thanks for the review_

_**CupcakeCuties: **why thankyou :) *bows*_

_**Princess Happy: ***secretly slips update into your hand* sshhh, take it and run! we don't want the others getting jealous ;) thanks for the review_

_**CandySkull: **well, now you don't have to wait at all- here is your update, enjoy! :3_

_**ZilverWolf: **Thanks for the review, and in return, here's your chapter! :)_

_**Joanna97: **thankyou, and I couldn't resist adding Gildarts, he's one of my favourites :) Unfortunately, Lucy WILL be going back home in this chapter, BUT DO NOT FEAR! There is at least one more chapter after this dedicated towards little Natsu and Lucy's friendship and interactions, and then another one after that, dealing with chibi NaLu coping being away from eachother seperately... and then after that, we get to the good stuff *cheeky grin*_

_**SubtleJoy: **I was blushing the rest of the day after reading your review! No joke, my brother thought there was something wrong with me! I feel as if I let you down with this chapter, it definitely isn't up to my normal standard, and you have my migrane to thank for that. When it comes to the little details in a story, it all sort of comes to me when I'm half asleep (like all good ideas do), so its not so much as forethought for the story, but rather, forethought about having my iPad next to me when I fall asleep so I can write down my ideas! I definitely don't think I'm one of the best writers on this website, after all, I'm only a tenth grade student procrastinating from doing her studying and assignments. But over all, I'm really happy you're enjoying the story! And thank you, a lot for your review :)_

_**Wasabi-kun: **hehe so you think you know what Igneel was about to say, huh? well yeah, it IS pretty obvious, but you seem to be the only one who's picked up on it, so good job. I'll tell ya what- tell me what you think he was going to say next time you review, and I'll tell you if it's right or not. Then, you'll have information on this story that no one else knows about! :D thanks for your review_

_**GreenxStrawberry: **too cute? there is no such thing! You see, it's all part of my not-so-evil plot to overdose you all on fluff! Glad you like Charcoal heart, and thanks a bunch for your review! :D_

_**The Rose Angel: **-_- Froggie-pon? really? Must you torture me, even when I'm not in hearing/hitting distance of you? I mean, Froggie-chan I don't mind, but PON? seriously? *ish ignoring Chancey now* btw, I'll send that story to you on wednesday, I've got work monday/tuesday!_

_**xXx**_

_Wow. Just wow. Thankyou, also to those of you who have faved/alerted this story as well. The response to this story so far, well, lets just say MIND = BLOWN. after all, this story was just originally meant to be used as a 14 year old's study-break, so I only have one thing to say. Thank you._

* * *

><p><em>What on earth….<em>

That was the thought running through Gildarts Clive's head as he stepped out of the storm and into the cave. His tattered cloak billowed around him as he stared at his surroundings.

The cave was lit by a fire that the band of renegades had obviously started. Several men were curled up in various places in the cave, whimpering in pain and severely burned. A beautiful woman with angel wings was crying silently, holding a lyre at her chest, looking desperately at a little blonde girl held captive in a large brute's arms. A small boy with pink hair, not much older than the girl, was tied up, lying dazed on the ground.

Gildarts had no idea who these children were, but they obviously needed help, and he was the only person who could supply it.

Blowing a quick whistle through his teeth, he decided to get everyone's attention before pummelling their asses into the ground.

"I don't know what's going on here," started Gildarts darkly, "but you're going to release the children and that strange girl or you're going to wish you were never born…"

Everyone stared at the mage, surprised to see him there. He was a terrifying figure: with his tattered cloak billowing and his face in the shadows, Gildarts resembled something akin to a demon, or perhaps a ghost. Lucy whimpered, but the man's words ran through her mind… he wanted to help them, to rescue her and Natsu.

Zanrae blinked at Gildarts, before throwing his head back and laughing. "What do you- a homeless wanderer by the looks of you- think you can do against me, a former Quatro Cerebus wizard? My men also could take you down without trying," he taunted after he calmed down. His men nodded and grunted, the ones still standing cracking their knuckles, trying to look menacing.

However, Gildarts did not back down in fear. He simply shrugged at the fool. "You know, I'm not very good at the whole 'witty banter' between enemies, so I'm just going to…" he trailed off, kneeling on the ground. Touching his hand to the rock, Gildarts whispered two words. "Crash magic…"

Light shot through the ground, before it crumbled beneath the thieves' feet. More men went down screaming as they fell on each other, making it all too easy for the mage. Unfortunately though, Gildarts did not have complete control over his magic, and was therefore unable to stop his magic from ripping apart the ground where the little girl was standing captive, nor where the pink haired boy was lying. The little girl screamed, but was able to move before her captor fell on top of her. She ran quickly, having been released when the ground was affected by his magic. Jumping lithely over stone and pieces of rubble, the little girl made it to Gildarts, grabbing onto his cloak for security.

"Hey, girl, you ok?" Gildarts asked, bending down to her level. "Sorry about getting you with that blast- I don't really have much control."

The girl nodded a little timidly. "Yeah… you have to help Natsu! And Lyra!"

Gildarts frowned, surveying the cave where the thieves were beginning to recover from the blast. However, only seven men were getting up- five of them were taken out with Natsu's fire earlier, and the other three were immobilised by Gildarts' attack.

"Natsu, that's your friend, right?"

"Yeah, my best friend," Lucy explained unnecessarily. "Lyra is that spirit over there. You've got to help them both! I'm not good at fire magic, and the only spirit I own isn't a 'combat' one."

Gildarts studied her for a moment, taking in the girl's attire, and her key hanging by her side. How could a kid this young be a wizard?

_No, I'll ask her later. Time to finish this job._

Taking off from his position, dodging the various bodies scattered everywhere, Gildarts first made his way over to the spirit, the one with angel wings. Picking her up, the wizard ran back to where the blonde girl was waiting, setting the spirit down carefully by her side.

"Thank you," the spirit said, bowing her head. "Please help the boy, but be careful! I'm preventing Zanrae from closing my gate, so he shouldn't be much of a problem, but the others are wizards too!"

Gildarts quickly gave her a charming grin, making the spirit blush. "No problem, beautiful. You seem to be forgetting that I'm a mage too." He lifted her head in his palm, his 'beautiful woman' instincts going haywire. Who cared if the beauty happened to be a spirit- it added to the allure. After all, he, Gildarts could be the first human to have his way with a _willing_ celestial spirit… now wouldn't that be something!

"OI!" the child with them yelled, snapping Gildarts out of his fantasy, "Stop being all lovey-dovey and help Natsu! There are still people awake, ya know!"

Well, that just completely ruined the mood. Sighing, and releasing the spirit, Gildarts bowed sarcastically to the child before taking off to grab the boy. Unfortunately though, halfway between him and the boy, stood the remaining thieves, waiting to take Gildarts on.

"We'll beat you to a pulp for what you did to our friends! Both you and that devil kid!" one of the men, a strange man with green hair and tattoos covering every inch of skin sneered. His comrades nodded in agreement, and Gildarts recognised Zanrae among them. At least he would be pretty easy to take care of. Not that they all wouldn't be easy to take care of, because he could take them out in a few seconds, but the mage felt like putting on a show.

"Devil kid, huh?" he asked, a little curious about the name they gave to who Gildarts assumed the pink haired kid. "So you're all former guild wizards, then? I recognise none of you, meaning you mustn't be very powerful or well known." All bristled at the comment, each powering up their own different types of magic, vowing to do very painful things to him. "See, unlike all of you, I happen to be part of a guild, a damn good one at that." The thieves all fired their magic towards the 'guild wizard', who only help up his hand with a smirk.

Before their very eyes, the thieves' magic lit up with a strange light, before imploding. They had no time to ponder what just happened, though, because soon all of them were flying through the air in different directions, curtsey of a wave of magic Gildarts just released.

"Gildarts Clive, Fairy Tail mage, at your service," he introduced himself with a bow, unnecessarily, as all of the thieves were at that moment unconscious. Looking up, Gildarts cursed, loudly. "Damn. Over did it. Again."

Lucy scampered out from her safe spot, quickly running towards Natsu, untying him. She paid no mind to the fact that the cave was in shambles, debris was lying everywhere and the walls were gouged and covered in marks.

"Wake up, Natsu!" she cried, shaking the boy roughly. This seemed to have a negative effect, however, because the boy went from slowly opening his eyes to a sickly green colour in a matter of seconds. "Natsu?"

The girl jumped when she felt Gildarts lay a hand on her shoulder. "Er, girl? I think you should stop that- he looks like he's going to puke," he advised, gesturing towards Natsu. The girl's eyes widened, shaking off Gildarts' hand and running back towards Lyra. Shrugging, the Fairy Tail wizard picked up Natsu and carried him towards the edge of the cave. The small trip seemed too much for the boy though, as Gildarts saw he had to swallow back bile.

_This kid gets motion sick so easily… oh god, please don't puke on me…_

He set the boy down before he had a chance to divulge the contents of his stomach all over him. Once the boy was back on the ground, it only took him a second to be revived, jumping up in the air, fire engulfing his head.

Gildarts jumped back in shock, staring at the boy who, by all rights, should be dead. He expected the girl to scream or cry out, but she just stood there with her arms crossed, unimpressed.

"Natsu! Stop being an idiot, you're scaring the man who saved us!" the girl demanded crossly, tapping her foot against the stone floor. Lyra was in the same condition as Gildarts, fearing for the boy who accompanied the girl.

Natsu stopped his flaming tirade, pouting at the girl. "But _Luuuucy!_" he whined, drawing out the girl's name, "I'm all fired up!" Then, his eyes widened as he saw the tall man standing over him and Lucy. "Who the hell are you?"

"I am Gildarts, a wizard from Fairy Tail. It was my mission to capture these thieves, they've been stirring trouble around these areas for a while now. But a better question would be _who are _you?"

"I'm Lucy, and this is Natsu," Lucy explained, before moving onto the celestial spirit. "And this is Lyra… you're the lyre, right?"

Lyra nodded, finally standing up. The spirit walked over to where her 'master' was lying unconscious, plucking something silver from his hand and grabbing a ring from his belt. Then, she retraced her footsteps to stand in front of Lucy.

"Lucy," the spirit started, bowing before the small child. "Thank you for stopping Zanrae."

"It's alright- I was just doing what any normal person would!" Lucy responded, a little confused as to why Lyra was bowing. Gildarts and Natsu were also confused, though the former a little less than the latter.

"No, you see, the thing is, not many people see us spirits as beings with feelings. They use us merely as tools- shields," explained Lyra but she was interrupted.

"That's silly! When I grow up and gather more spirits, they'll be my _friends_!" This statement made not only Lyra, but Gildarts start in surprise, though both for entirely different reasons. Natsu was nodding alongside Lucy, as if he was going to be the spirits' friend too.

"Well…" Lyra finally said, and opened her hand to Lucy, "that is why I, and the rest of Zanrae's spirits want _you_ to become our new master."

"M-me?" Lucy asked, completely stunned, studying the objects in Lyra's hand. There were two silver keys on a ring, and even one gold one. Another silver key was also sitting in the spirit's palm, detached from the ring, and Lucy assumed that was Lyra's own key.

A gold key… a gold key spirit wanted _her_ to be their wielder? That was… _amazing_. She was only five! That _had_ to be the youngest age to own a gold key. Natsu, beside her, was also staring at the key. Lucy had told him about how powerful the gold keys were compared to the silver ones, and he couldn't help feeling proud of his best friend.

As if sensing Lucy's thoughts, Lyra's face broke into a wide smile. "Yes, we've all seen your heart, and we know that one day, you'll grow up to be a _brilliant_ Celestial wizard. However," now, Lyra's tone was serious, "You must not summon the zodiac spirit until you're at least fifteen. Right now, you do now have the amount of power or maturity required to summon him." Lucy nodded, knowing this to be true. Her mother had warned her not to touch Aquarius', Cancer's or Capricorn's keys. Natsu was looking a bit put-off, but he didn't want to see his best friend hurt, so he stayed quiet.

Lyra flinched, then smiled at Lucy. "I have to go now, call on me later when you want to create our contract. Goodbye… friend." Then, the spirit disappeared in a puff of pink smoke, making Gildarts, who was standing closest to her, cough.

"Well…" the adult wizard said, staring at the spot Lyra had just been. "That was… interesting. So kids, where are your parents?"

Lucy drew her gaze away from the keys that were now sitting in her hands and widened her eyes at Gildarts. Natsu had the same reaction.

"Natsu! How could we forget about Igneel? Shouldn't he be back by now?" Lucy asked frantically.

The pink haired boy nodded, trying to see through the rain that was quickly cascading down outside the cave. "Yeah, he should be. Er, Mister, ya better run. Father is _real_ scary!"

Gildarts scoffed, ruffling Natsu's hair (much to the boy's annoyance), plopping down onto the ground. "Nah, I could probably handle him if I wanted," he said calmly, assuming Natsu's words referred to when his father would yell at him or scold him or something. "So kid, what was with that freaky fire thing you did earlier?"

Natsu and Lucy exchanged glances, both of them wondering if Gildarts had met a dragon before. He probably had, judging by the way he was acting. Shrugging, Natsu turned back to the man, before lighting his hand on fire. "It's fire magic. Father is teaching me it- I'm getting pretty good with it… though it wasn't enough to save Lucy." The boy's tone had grown depressed, and Gildarts decided he needed to raise his spirits.

"Nah, you did great, kid! When I came in, more than half of these thieves were taken out by your fire magic, so I didn't have much left to do." He didn't voice his thoughts on the fire magic itself, however. It was unlike any of the other fire magic he had seen- it was completely different to Macao's, and it certainly seemed hotter, or more powerful than most. Yet it was coming from a six-year-old boy… now that was something hard to wrap his head around.

Lucy hugged Natsu, as a way of saying she was grateful towards him. She pulled away quite quickly though, when she realised what she was doing. Because Lucy turned her head away to hide her blush, she didn't see the pink dusted across her best friend's cheeks either. Gildarts noticed none of this, distracted by both his thoughts and the strange presence he could feel drawing closer to them.

A few seconds after the hug, Natsu jumped up and down, screaming 'Father is back, father is back!' Gildarts was just about to ask him how he knew, but then he felt it.

At first, it was just a small gust of breeze, but then it blew stronger and stronger at even intervals. The ground shook as the _thing_ landed, and Gildarts stood up, immediately getting in battle stance. However, instead of cowering behind him, the children rushed forward, embracing the 'thing's' legs. A flash of lightning briefly illuminated it, and the Fairy Tail mage stumbled back in surprise.

"Holy shit…" Gildarts mumbled.

"Father!" Natsu cried, jumping onto Igneel's head. "You wouldn't believe what happened while you were gone!" Igneel scrutinized the interior of the cave, lifting his scaly equivalent of an eyebrow.

"I think I might…" Gathering Lucy into one of his claws so she wouldn't get further affected by the rain, the dragon laid a golden eye on Gildarts, who gulped. "Who are you?"

Gathering his courage, Gildarts stood up straight, internally cursing Natsu. The boy had lied when he said his father was scary… his father was downright terrifying! Wait- how on earth was the dragon even the kid's father in the first place?

"I am Gildarts Clive, a wizard from Fairy Tail. It was my job to dispose of these thieves, but unfortunately I wasn't able to get to them before they got to the children."

Igneel hummed in the back of his throat. "Fairy Tail… so you're one of Makarov's brats, then?"

Gildarts' eyes lit up at the mention of the name. "Do you know Master?"

"Not exactly… we have an _agreement_, I guess you could say. Now, go tie up those men and then we'll talk further."

The wizard felt like he just lost all colour. Now, Gildarts may be one of the strongest wizards in Fairy Tail, but he wasn't exactly the most… organized. Cursing himself for forgetting about something so important, the mage gathered and tied up the men at record speed.

Igneel had crawled into the cave and curled up in a tight ball, so to not let the children get too wet in the rain. Said children were telling him what had just gone on while Igneel was being led on his wild goose chase. The dragon was curious as to what spirits Lucy had gained, but Lucy didn't really know herself, apart from Lyra. Holding the keys up to the light, she and the dragon tried to figure out the symbols on the head of each key.

Gildarts came back from tying up the thieves and stood in front of the dragon, with his hands on hips.

"So… explain? Please?"

Igneel, deeming the Fairy Tail wizard worthy enough to know about what was going on, he divulged the fact that he had adopted Natsu and was currently training him in dragon slayer magic. He told the man how Layla, Lucy's mother was one of his old friends, and the little girl was currently staying with them and was learning fire magic.

"Now, children," Igneel said to Natsu and Lucy, "I need to talk to Gildarts privately. Go away for a second, would you?"

Both Lucy and Natsu scowled at the dismissal, but when Igneel's tail started twitching, both ran off as fast as they could to the spot where they hid Lucy's belongings. Both, thinking they were stealthy on their tiptoes, snuck closer so they could hear what was being said.

"Now, I've already spoken to Makarov about this, but…" suddenly his voice dropped, and rendered the children unable to hear him.

"Stupid Igneel…" Lucy muttered, but didn't mean it. She hated being left out of secrets, and had a feeling Natsu felt the same way. "Hey Natsu, can you grab my constellations book please? Maybe I can figure out who these keys belong to!"

"Sure!" the boy said, reaching behind him into Lucy's bag and pushing aside her various clothes, finally laying his hand on the book. Giving it to Lucy, the girl opened it and both mages-in-training bent over it, laying the keys next to the pages.

"This one looks like a clock!" Natsu exclaimed, pointing to the head of one of the silver keys.

Lucy's eyes brightened and she flipped forward a few pages and placed a finger on a name with a symbol matching the one on the key beside it. "Horologium!"

"Alright! Ok, so what's this one?" Natsu said, pointing to the final silver key. On its head was a picture of a large four-legged animal, sort of resembling a dog. Lucy shrugged, flipping through the different pages of the book until she stopped on one that could possibly match. Well not just one, more like two.

"Well, it sort of looks like a dog, right?" she asked in confirmation, and Natsu nodded. "Well there's two it could be- Canis Minor or Canis Major. I think it's Major, 'cause it looks big." Lucy set that key aside, reminding herself to ask it when she made her contract with him/her _which_ he/she was. "Now, the gold key is pretty easy! Why don't you figure this one out?"

Natsu stared at the gold key's symbol. It looked like the lower-case letter 'm', with an arrow at the end. Thinking back on the night Lucy educated him about the Zodiac, he went through the various symbols the girl forced him to memorize. "Is it… Scorpio?"

Lucy nodded. "Yup! See!" She flipped back a few pages, until she reached the one with the different zodiac listed, with their symbols beside their names. Sure enough, beside _Scorpio_ was the very same symbol that was on the key.

The best friends then sat and debated what they thought the spirits were going to be like. Natsu kept complaining about how there wasn't a dragon spirit. Lucy assured him that new spirits were continuously being found every day, so if a dragon spirit were to ever pop up, then she would definitely acquire that key for him. That earned her another hug (and another blush).

"Children!" Igneel called, and the two jumped apart from each other once again. Running over to the dragon, they waited patiently for him to speak. "I'm going to help Gildarts deliver these men to the edge of the forest. Stay put until then."

Gildarts stood up and brushed himself off. "Well kids, guess this is goodbye for now. I'll see you guys around, alright?" he asked, grinning widely as he ruffled their hair. Swatted his hand away, complaining about how boys always messed up her hair, making Gildarts' grin even wider if that was possible. Igneel crawled out of the cave, dragging the thieves with him.

Gildarts followed. With his back still to the children, he raised his arm in farewell, extending his thumb and index finger, keeping the others clenched, in a gesture that the children would one day come to know as a gesture of friendship and loyalty in Fairy Tail.

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><p>Lucy's remaining time with Natsu and Igneel passed very quickly after that night. She continued her training with fire, but even when it came for the day that she had to leave, she was still unable to summon a flame quickly. During her final lesson with the dragon, Igneel instructed her on how to progress in her training once she finally got home.<p>

Lucy had promised herself not to make contracts with the keys she had gained until she got home, so her mama could watch. She couldn't wait to see her reaction when she found out that Lucy now had a gold key!

But of course, all good things had to come to an end, and that end came when Natsu and Lucy were playing a game of catch… with fire.

Laughing their heads off as the fireball flew through the air between them, the children were as happy as they could be, just spending time with each other.

Lucy caught the fireball between her hands, having grown resistant to Natsu's magic, grinning wickedly at the boy. "Catch _this_!" she cried, flinging the ball as hard as she could at her pink-haired friend.

However, the fireball whizzed right past Natsu, who was standing stock-still, sniffing the air.

"Ha! You couldn't catch it!" Lucy taunted, literally running circles around Natsu. On her fourth run, though, Natsu held out his arm and stopped her, and only then did Lucy notice his expression. "What is it, Natsu?"

The little boy pointed towards the now rustling bushes, from which stepped…

"MAMA!" Lucy screamed, running towards the blonde woman and nearly knocked her over. "Mama, I missed you!" she whispered, hugging the woman tight. Layla bent down so she could gather the girl in her arms and hug her tightly in return.

"I missed you too sweety, I missed you too…" she said, stroking her daughter's hair. "Did you have fun? Were you good for Igneel?"

Lucy nodded her head releasing her mother. "Yeah, we had _heaps_ of fun, didn't we Natsu?"

Said boy nodded, running up to greet Lucy's mother properly. "Hello Layla-san! You wouldn't _believe_ the fun we had! The other night, it was raining, and- oof!" Lucy kicked Natsu in the back, causing him to fall forward into the ground. "Ow, Luce! What was that for?" he complained, getting back up.

"I slipped," Lucy said through gritted teeth, silently pleading with Natsu for him to not reveal what happened with the thieves. The dragon slayer didn't seem to get the hint, however, but thankfully (for Lucy's sake), Igneel deemed it time for him to say his piece to Layla.

"Layla, how are you?" he asked, crouching on the ground. "How long are you planning on staying?"

"Not long at all, I'm afraid. We must leave immediately, Jude is on his way home as we speak!" Layla told him regretfully, and Lucy's smile dropped. She knew what that meant…

It meant it was time to say goodbye to Natsu.

Igneel had collected her items and had pushed the towards Layla, who was now holding them in her arms. Lucy and Natsu, however, just stood staring at each other, before hugging.

"I don't want to go," Lucy whispered, horrified when she felt the tears running down her face.

"I don't want you to go, either," Natsu whispered in much the same manner, before letting her go, in both senses of the phrase. "Are you crying?" He asked, grinning a little when he remembered the day when they first met, only a week ago, yet it felt like a life time.

"I wasn't crying!"

"Was!

"Wasn't!"

"Was!'

"Wasn't! Hey- now you're crying too!" Lucy exclaimed, before hugging her best friend again.

Natsu tried wiping away the tears, scolding himself for letting them fall in the first place.

"Relax children," Igneel intoned, "this goodbye won't be forever. In fact, I am absolutely positive you'll meet again, very soon."

"Really?" they asked in unison, and Layla had to stop herself from aw-ing at their identical expressions.

"Really, really," she told them, taking her daughter's hand. "We must go now, Lucy." The little girl nodded hesitantly, waving at Natsu and Igneel one last time before turning and walking back through the forest with her mother.

Natsu stood and stared at the trees until he could no longer smell Lucy in the forest. He couldn't believe it- Lucy was gone, just like that.

Igneel watched his son a little sadly, before recalling something he had reminded himself to do. "Natsu," he said, none too gently. "Come with me. We need to have a _talk_."

* * *

><p>That night, when Natsu was getting ready for sleep, he almost tripped over something… something soft. Picking it up off the ground, Natsu ran it through his hands, and brought it up to his nose to sniff. The object was covered in Lucy's scent permanently, and Natsu remembered something Igneel had just told him in their <em>talk<em>.

Lucy had left her green blanket behind, but Natsu couldn't bring himself to tell Igneel about it. No, he would keep it, as a constant reminder of Lucy, just in case.

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><p><strong><em>EXPLANATIONS! <em>**_Obviously, Lucy has gotten Scorpio a lot earlier than she did in the manga. Here's an explanation as to why Zanrae had Scorpio and not Angel. You see, while Zanrae is just an OC for the sake of the past two chapters, there would have had to been someone like him, who was weilding Scorpio before Angel (because that stupid woman wasn't born with her keys.). In cannon, Angel killed 'Zanrae' (who happened to have escaped from Gildarts because Lucy wasn't around, and sold his silver keys to make a living), and stole his remaining key, thus angel owns scorpio. But, obviously it didn't happen like that in this timeline, because, as you just saw, that Lucy now owns Scorpio.  
>ALSO... that third silver key, will in fact be Canis MAJOR, a spirit who hasn't been introduced yet in the manga. This is not to be confused with canis MINOR (Plue)<em>

_I feel I let a lot of people down with this chapter, but if its not too much to ask... 20 reviews? please? If you do, thursday's chapter will be 20% longer! woo! so yes, short version:_

_20 REVIEWS = LONGER CHAPTERS. kapiche?_

_Until Thursday,  
><strong>GreentreeFrog.<strong>_


	5. Five Keys

_**Sorry** about not updating, but getting a freakin' CONCUSSION will do that to ya. That's right, me, being my clumsy self, tripped, banged my head, knocked myself out and was diagnosed with a concussion. The headaches... ow..._

_I would love to be able to respond to reviews, but unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time right now. _

_Ok, so this chapter has a few timeskips in it. This first being at the beginning, and then a MASSIVE (four year) time skip somewhere in the middle._

_Also, **down in the bottom Author's note, there is a statement regarding a poll of mine.** Trust me, you'll want to read it.** It's important for this story**. Anyway, here is your chapter, and I promise I'll respond to reviews next update (because quite a few people had questions/suggestions, and I really want to get around to answering them)._

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><p>The sun rose over the treetops, illuminating the large bedroom in the east wing of the manor. All inhabitants of the estate were still asleep at this hour… except for one.<p>

The little blonde heiress paced around her bedroom, unable to sleep. In a few hours, she would be able to see _him_, and she couldn't wait. It had been a year since they had last seen each other and she was too excited to sleep.

Stopping her pacing in front of the mirror, the blonde child cocked her head to the side, studying her reflection. She had changed a little in a year- she had grown taller and her hair longer. But that was about it. Other than those natural changes, she was pretty much the same- even the hairstyle she used was the same as it had been for a year. The dismayed nannies and nurses had tried convincing her to do something different, but she wouldn't budge. She wondered how much _he_ had changed, if he had gotten taller too, or if he still wore that scarf.

Hoping over to her wardrobe, Lucy immediately skimmed past the dresses- they would definitely be too unconventional for an outing with _him_ (going from experience). But she had a problem- she seemed to own nothing _but_ dresses! And they were mostly pink too… not that Lucy didn't like pink, but blue was her favourite colour. She continued to rummage through her wardrobe, groaning when she couldn't find anything. When she reached the back (as it was a rather big walk-in wardrobe), she slumped down on the ground in a huff, accidently sitting on one of her more expensive dresses that had fallen off its rack.

Scowling around her, Lucy cursed the number of dresses she owned. She was on the verge of giving up, when something blue caught her eye. Picking herself up from the ground, Lucy curiously wandered over to where she saw it. Picking up the article of clothing, Lucy smiled widely. It was made of a very light material, one she had never felt before. The blue fabric formed a very long tank-top, one that would reach Lucy's knees with no problem. Glittering stars shone at the bottom, almost glowing gold when they reflected the little sunlight that was streaming into the wardrobe. On either side, there were thin loops in the area her hips would be. Over all, it was very simple, but useful and pretty.

"Thank you, Echo!" Lucy squealed, hugging the material to her face. When she felt something soft brush along her entire left side, she reached out to pet the soft fur.

If anyone were to walk into the room that very moment, they would see a little blonde girl get seemingly _eaten_ by a dog almost twice her size. Though, it goes to show that looks can be deceiving.

"Ick!" Lucy exclaimed when the massive dog licked her from almost head to toe in almost one swipe.

The dog, with _silver_ fur with black covering it in patches, wagged its shaggy tail almost hyperactively. The giant dog had taken on the form of a Border Collie that morning (albeit, a very _large_ border collie), so his shaggy fur had made him seem bigger than her already was.

"Echo, can you please go and get my tights?" Lucy asked, trying and failing to push the dog off her.

The dog barked happily, but quietly, to the girl's relief. He trotted over to an elegant, white duchess, sitting close to the bed. Grabbing a certain handle in his teeth, the large dog, 'Echo', pulled until the drawer opened enough for him to stick his snout in and pull something out.

Padding back over to Lucy he deposited the tights (with minimal slobber) at her feet, wagging his tail like a dog that knew it just did something right. Lucy patted his side fondly, before shooing him away so she could get dressed.

A couple of minutes later, she stepped out from her wardrobe dressed for the day: wearing that blue shirt that went down to her knees, black leggings, white boots and a white belt holding her ring of five keys. Her hair was done up in the style that Natsu created for her, using a blue ribbon. Looking at the giant dog that was now lying in the middle of her floor, and then out the window where the sun had just risen, Lucy sighed.

"Echo, why are you so big? Can't you be a little smaller so I can play with you?" the celestial mage asked.

The dog looked like it was contemplating something for a moment, before being engulfed in a bright light. Once that light had diminished, instead of a giant dog, a puppy version of the Border Collie was staring at Lucy with iris-less and pupil-less silver eyes. Lucy smiled wide, and ran up to the puppy.

"Naw, Echo! You're so cute!" She squealed, gathering the bundle of fur into her arms. Echo licked her face and fingers happily, before jumping out of her arms and looking at her expectantly.

Grinning, Lucy rushed back into a wardrobe, and seconds later came out with a short, thirty centimetre length of heavy-duty rope. When she had first asked her mama for it, the older celestial mage had just stared at her daughter, not entirely sure what the whole request was about. But the woman eventually relented, discreetly acquiring the rope for Lucy.

Now holding the rope in front of Echo's face, the girl and the dog commenced a round of tug-of-war with each other. Lucy knew the dog could win easily if he wanted to, but he used only a portion of his strength, so the game would be more fun for the both of them.

Lucy played with Echo for what seemed like hours. She played fetch in her large room (very careful not to break anything when she threw the rope), plenty of tug-of-war, and a little game of 'tag'. Lucy squealed as she ran around her room, trying to avoid the puppy that was trying to lick her, when she heard the footsteps.

_Oh no… if one of the maids see Echo… daddy would take him away from me!_

Stopping in the middle of the room, a bit out of breath, Lucy beckoned the dog to come to her. Echo too had heard the footsteps coming their way, maybe even before his owner. Tugging at a silver key by her side, the dog motioned what she would have to do with his head. Understanding, Lucy grabbed the key off her belt.

_Sorry, boy. This has been fun, but it's for your own good!_

"Close, gate of Canis Major!" Lucy commanded, bringing the silver key across in an arc. Before her eyes, Echo disappeared in a puff of smoke, wagging his shaggy little tail.

The disappearance happened just in the nick of time, because as soon as the smoke dissipated, her bedroom door was flung open and in walked her chief nanny, followed by a line of maids. Sighing, Lucy internally prepared herself for the tongue lashing she was about to get.

"Mistress Lucy time to wa- oh, you're already up. Well then, time for you to start the day, head down to breakfast and then we'll continue your lessons," Lucy's nanny, a tall, stern, grey-haired woman, commanded.

Lucy nodded, thinking she had gotten out of a stern talking-to out of sheer luck. If her nanny noticed what-

"What on earth are you wearing?"

Lucy cringed, her foot hovering mid-step.

_Great she noticed… _

"Clothes," Lucy retorted bravely. Behind her nanny, she saw a few of her maids' eyes widen when she stood up to the woman. No one ever dared stand up to her, it was an unspoken rule of the household. But that morning, Lucy didn't care. She would be seeing her best friend soon, and said best friend's father was much, _much_ scarier than this old lady.

The nanny grabbed Lucy's small wrist in her hand sharply, tugging the little girl back towards her. "These- these are not _clothes!_ They're rags, only scum, like uneducated people or those filthy wizards would wear clothes like these! And what is _that_, on your belt? Surely you didn't steal your mother's keys?"

Twisting her wrist so the Nanny would let go, Lucy danced out of the older woman's grip, giggling internally at the look on her face.

"Child!" the old woman finally snapped. She was sick of the girl- she had always disliked her, that dislike growing into something akin to hatred in the years she was forced to care for the girl. "Give me those keys now, or I'll-"

"Or you'll _what_?" a calm voice interrupted.

"Mama!" yelled Lucy, never tiring of seeing her mother. Perhaps it was something to do with the fact she was sick all the time. Lucy never knew when her mother's days would turn into her last, so she relished in each chance to spend time with her. Running to her mama, Lucy wrapped her little arms around her and jumped up and down in excitement.

Layla placed a hand on Lucy's head to calm her down a little, before turning back to the Nanny. "Kezia-san, do I have to remind you of the consequences that would occur if you continue to threaten my daughter?"

"N-no, Heartfilia-sama. Come girls, it seems that _Mistress Lucy_ is dressed for the day."

Lucy didn't like the way her Nanny, Kezia, sneered her name. Why did she have to be so _mean_ all the time? And she had a strange obsession with her keys…

Kezia turned on her heel and left the room, the maids following behind her like a trail of ducklings. Lucy poked her tongue out as they left, earning her a glare from the nanny. Layla simply smiled calmy, seemingly at peace.

Once they had gone, Layla gently pushed her daughter towards the girl's large bed, so they could sit. Crawling onto her mother's lap, Lucy fisted the hem of her long shirt.

"So are you excited about today?" her mama asked gently, and Lucy was momentarily surprised. She had thought her mama was going to scold her or something similar.

"Hai," responded the girl, nodding he head frantically. She just couldn't wait. "I miss Natsu, _this_ much!" Lucy drew out the word '_this'_, stretching her arms out wide as if to show Layla how much she missed Natsu.

The older celestial mage smiled a wide smile. It seemed, even though her daughter had spent only a short amount of time with the boy, he made a lasting impression on her. Lucy had told her how she thought Natsu was her best friend, and the mother heard the pride in her daughter's voice when she talked about the dragon slayer. For a moment, Layla remembered her dreams, the ones about a beautiful, busty blonde girl and a strong, hot-tempered pink haired teen. The dreams ranged from fluffy, fulfilling ones, to ones that were downright nightmarish. There was one in particular that was haunting her, but she never ended up reaching the conclusion. It was Layla's hope they would avoid the whole situation altogether.

"So you miss him a lot, huh?"

Lucy grinned a wide, toothy grin (not unlike a certain dragon-slayer), nodding her head. "Yeah. I really, really, really, _really_ can't wait for him to get here!"

"What if I told you…" Layla paused for a moment, "that he was _already here?"_

Strong arms circled around her from the side, the speed accidently pushing her off her mother. Eyes wide, Lucy turned her head to come nose-to-nose with a certain pink haired Dragon-Slayer.

"Natsu!" She shrieked, quickly turning around and returning the hug. "I missed you _heaps_!"

"Yeah, I heard you say that," Natsu sniggered, teasing her.

Lucy wiggled out of his grasp, glaring. She punched his arm, but both knew that the girl wasn't strong enough to hurt him. "You're _supposed _to say 'I missed you too'!"

Natsu stuck out his tongue. "But I didn't want to!"

_Wait…_ Lucy thought, something only just occurring to her. "Hey Natsu… how are you _here_? And where's Igneel?"

"Lucy, dear, Natsu came in with me, but chose to hide once we got inside your room. As for Igneel, he could hardly fly right up to the house, your father would see him!" Layla answered for the boy before standing up. "I must take my leave. Remember children, if you must use magic, then make sure no one will see." Bidding her daughter farewell by dropping a kiss on her forehead, Layla left the room, waving daintily at the best friends.

As soon as the kids were alone in the room, the chatter started. Lucy asked Natsu how he'd been, and what he'd been doing, though his answer was a little vague. They chattered about everything and nothing, in the way only children their age could. During this conversation, Lucy took the time to study how much Natsu had changed in a year. He still wore that scaly scarf, and his hair was still pink and unmanageable. Natsu was wearing a shirt this time, however, Lucy doubted it was by his own choice (considering he kept tugging at the collar, looking like he wanted nothing more than to either have it replaced with something comfier, or just completely gone). His teeth had sharpened, resembling fangs more than they had the last time she had seen them, and his eyes looked a lot like Igneel's now. Of course, he had grown taller, that much was obvious. Lucy was keen to see what different types of magics he had learned, and better yet, she couldn't wait to show off her keys to him!

"So how's your fire going?" Natsu eventually asked tossing his own flames between his two hands. Whilst sitting on her bed… wait-

"_Don't do that!_" screeched Lucy, grabbing the fire and putting it out. Natsu grinned cheekily at her and she rolled her eyes. "And I'll show you later, I've got all day!" she said in response to his original question.

Getting bored just sitting on the bed, Natsu jumped up and grabbed Lucy's hand, dragging her from her position and out of her room. Lucy only protested a little, digging her heels in, but Natsu showing his superior strength pulled her along easily.

"Do you even know where you're going?" Lucy snapped, while trying to look around the corner, on watch for the servants. Strangely enough, there were none in sight. She would have to ask her mama about that later…

"'Course I do!"

"Oh yeah?" she retorted, trying to dig her heels in again, this time with a bit more resolve. "Then where are we going?"

"Er… outside!"

This time, Lucy managed to bring Natsu to a halt. "You really have no idea," she sighed. "If you want to go outside, it's this way."

She led him in the opposite direction they were going, turning down multiple hallways that all looked the same. It made Natsu's head spin. How on earth was she able to remember her way around in a place as big as this?

"So how did you get here?" Lucy asked, trying to restart the conversation. She never heard a carriage arrive (as if he would arrive in a carriage like normal people anyway), but she didn't think he walked the whole way.

"Igneel flew with me, and then dropped me off just outside the village," he answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

_Village…? What is Natsu talking about?_

Eyes lighting up in comprehension, Lucy shook her head. "There's no village," she said, grinning a little, "did you see those mountains on your way in?" She waited for her friend's confirmation before she continued.

"Yeah, we flew right over them!"

"Well, from the manor to the mountains is just our estate. There is no village."

Natsu stopped dead in his tracks, staring at her as if she had suggested he learn Ice Maker magic or something similar. Opening his mouth to say something along the lines of 'you're joking', Natsu was suddenly pushed by Lucy into a nearby room. He would shout at her if he could, but Lucy had her hand placed firmly over his mouth.

Trying to nip at her hand to get it away from his face, Natsu scowled. It looked like he only had one option.

Lucy felt something slimy go over her hand, circling about and tickling her a little. Her eyes became as wide as dinner plates, her hair standing up in surprise and disgust.

"Yuck, Natsu!" she yelled, pulling her hand away. It had his slobber all over it, and she wasn't happy.

"Why did you push me?" he asked, frowning.

"I saw Aquarius," Lucy explained, as if that was all the explanation needed.

It wasn't though. In fact, it created more questions than it answered.

"I thought you loved Aquarius?" Natsu asked, noting how she didn't use her cute pronunciation of the spirit's name. His eyebrows were raised in question, his expression goading her to answer.

Lucy sighed, looking down at her feet. "I still do love Aquarius…"

"But…"

"But she hates me." This had been something that had been pulling at her heart for a while.

"Why? Last I heard, she loved you too, you said she took care of you!" Natsu exclaimed, totally not understanding the situation.

"Well it happened like this…"

* * *

><p><em>Light filtered through the tree leaves, illuminating the area in a soft glow. It was the day after Lucy had returned from her stay with Natsu, and she was showing her mother her keys. Capricorn and Aquarius stood beside their wielder, curious about the little girl's tale (though for different reasons). <em>

"_So that's how I got these keys!" Lucy finished, showing her mother the ring of keys proudly. Layla smiled proudly at her daughter, studying the silver keys._

_However, Capricorn and Aquarius were more interested in the gold key that Lucy had acquired. _

"_Lucy, could you perhaps show us that gold key?" Capricorn asked politely, ecstatic that she had received a gold key at such a young age, though he didn't show it. He knew wit out a doubt that one day, Lucy would be a great Celestial Mage, perhaps one of the best in Fiore. _

"_Sure!" Lucy said, detaching the requested key from the ring and handing it to the goat. "I don't have enough power yet to summon him, but I already know its Scorpio!"_

_Capricorn studied his friend's key with interest. Scorpio was a battle-type spirit as far as he knew, though it had been a while since they had last fought together (a couple of centuries, at least), but he had no idea how much he had progressed (or regressed) power-wise. He knew a Celestial Spirit's power relied on how magically strong their 'owner' was. Obviously, at that moment, if Lucy were to summon Scorpio, he wouldn't be very strong. _

_Aquarius' reaction was different. Instead of feeling proud that her Mistress' daughter had gained her boyfriend's key, she felt resentment. Going along the same line as Capricorn's thoughts, Aquarius knew that Lucy wouldn't be able to summon Scorpio for _years._ This to her, was a major blow. It meant her boyfriend would be so close, yet impossible to reach. _

"_Lucy, sweety," Aquarius started nicely, "Please relinquish ownership of that key to your mother."_

_The three individuals around her frowned. _

"_No," Lucy said firmly, leaving no argument. "I gained his key on my own, so I'm keeping it."_

"_Lucy's right, Aquarius," Layla said, "The key is hers, by all rights. I would never take it from her."_

_The water-bearer snarled, glaring hatefully at Lucy._

"_Aquarius," Capricorn reprimanded, "This had better not be about something petty like 'wanting to go on a date with your boyfriend in the human world'. You will see Scorpio in the Spirit World. Now stop acting like a child and apologise for being rude!" _

_Aquarius loathed admitting it, but Capricorn was right. It was something petty and childish. Yet, being who she was, Aquarius still held a grudge against Lucy (and now Capricorn for reprimanding her). "Che," she muttered, then went back to the spirit world on her own._

_Layla looked at her daughter sympathetically, who was staring at the spot her favourite spirit had just disappeared from. "Lucy, don't worry. Aquarius will most likely act like she hates you now, but that's just how she is. She doesn't really, she'll always love you."_

"_We hope…" Capricorn muttered under his breath._

* * *

><p>"….So that's how it happened," Lucy concluded, pouting a little. Natsu couldn't stand that expression on her face. It was so…. Not-Lucy!<p>

"C'mon," He muttered, grabbing her hand for the second time that day. "If she's mean to you, I'll beat her up."

Lucy trailed after Natsu like an obedient puppy, thankfully not encountering Aquarius on their way out. Remembering Natsu didn't know his way around the manor, Lucy steered him in the right direction to get out onto the grounds (via the kitchen first, she hadn't had breakfast yet, after all).

"You know, Lucy," Natsu said, "I'll _always_ be your friend –best friend actually- and I'll always protect you. I won't be like Aquarius, because she's mean. Just remember, you'll always have me."

Lucy was quiet after this revelation. She didn't face Natsu, in case she did something like hug him (because that would be embarrassing; she didn't mind earlier, but that was because it was her first time seeing him in _ages_), instead, she squeezed his hand in thanks.

Then the rest of Natsu's words caught up to her. "Wait… WHY DO YOU THINK I NEED PROTECTING?"

* * *

><p>Natsu's day at the Heartfilia estate passed way too quickly for both of the kids. Once again in tears when they were forced to separate at the end of the day, Layla was quick to assure them that there would be more days like this to come.<p>

And it was true. Over the years, Natsu came to visit Lucy at the Heartfilia estate often. Not often enough for Lucy to think he lived in the forest that covered part of their estate, but enough to keep them both happy. Every time they saw each other, they would show off their magic: Natsu would show Lucy some new fire dragon technique Igneel had taught him, and Lucy would show him how much she had progressed with her own fire magic. It was safe to say the children grew up together, because that's just what they did. They learned more in each other's company than they ever would on their own.

Sometimes Lucy would stay with Igneel and Natsu while her father was away on business. It was never for the same length of time as that first week. In that time, she would bond with Igneel, the dragon becoming something like an adoptive uncle. A huge, scaly, fire-breathing uncle. Igneel continued to teach her fire magic, setting her work for the times that she was away from them. Almost like homework.

Lucy held all of her memories with Natsu amongst her favourites (even when he teased her), but one memory stood out to her.

* * *

><p>The day was almost at a close, the sun low in the sky, casting beautiful shadows on the clouds. The 1st of July, X777 was at an end, the first day of the month having a special meaning for a special someone. It had been a great day. The weather was calm and sunny, Layla Heartfilia had managed to make it out of her bed for the first time in a month, and Lucy had turned ten. That's right. It was Lucy's birthday.<p>

Despite all of this, though, Lucy didn't feel as happy as she probably should have. The reason? Her best friend: Natsu. She hadn't seen the boy for three months (one of their longest times away from each other, excluding the year they spent apart), and it was wearing her pre-adolescent emotions thin.

Gazing at the sky one last time, Lucy abandoned all hope of seeing a dragon-like shape heading towards her, carrying her best friend with it. She trudged back inside the manor, smiling and thanking the well-wishing servants as they passed, but frowning when she was on her own. Walking to her mother's room, Lucy couldn't shake the strange feeling she'd been having over the past few weeks. It wasn't a pleasant one- more like something was nagging at her in the back of her mind, but she couldn't figure out what it was.

"Mama, I think I'm going to go to bed now," Lucy announced when she was safely inside the room.

Layla smiled a bit worriedly at her. She could tell there was something on her daughter's mind, but if she wanted her to know, she would have told her already. "Already? But it's so early!" Although she had protested, Layla opened her arms in invitation. Lucy gladly accepted, giving her mother a hug. The older Celestial mage kissed her daughter's forehead and then her nose, smiling brightly.

"Happy Birthday, Lucy."

"Thanks, mama," Lucy whispered, kissing her cheek and stepping out of the hug. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Lucy left the room, and walked down the hall, entering her own. She saw the presents she had received from her family, and her family's business partners lying on a table in one of the corners of her room. However, there was a gift sitting on her bed. It captured her curiosity, and Lucy very hurriedly got changed into her pyjamas and stepped into bed.

She held the round box on her lap, taking the note that was lying on top and reading it.

'_Lucy,  
>We all wish you a very happy birthday! We hope you appreciate our gift. In addition to being strong, durable and handy, it is also designed to be able to channel other types of magic, like fire. Practice with it, we hope to see you use it with success in the future!<br>From,  
>The Celestial Spirits (Capricorn, Cancer, Lyra, Horologium, Canis Major [Echo], Crux and Aquarius)'<em>

All of the names were signed in their own way, and Lucy noted with amusement that they each drew their own little versions of their symbols next to their names. The last name, Aquarius, was obviously added in as an afterthought, the handwriting was a hard-to-read scrawl. But the fact that Aquarius' even thought to sign the card spoke volumes to the girl.

Lucy grabbed the star-covered bow and untied it, pulling the lid off the box. Inside, sat a genuine, leather whip. It was dark brown, almost black in colour, the end looking almost like a heart. Lucy loved it.

"Thanks, guys," she whispered, knowing that at least one of them would hear her.

Deciding to go to sleep early, Lucy placed the whip, box and note on her bedside table, completely skipping dinner. She pulled the covers up to her chin (despite the warmth of the night) and drifted off to sleep.

_Tap, tap, tap._

Groaning, Lucy grabbed one of her pillows and used it to cover her ear. Yet the tapping didn't stop. It got heavier and louder, until it sounded like someone was banging on her window. Grumbling, Lucy opened her eyes and was surprised at how dark it was. It felt like she only just drifted off to sleep!

_Tap, tap TAP!_

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," Lucy mumbled, sliding out of bed and walked automatically towards the window.

All sleepiness fled from her mind when she saw what was waiting for her. There, looking like he was floating in mid-air, was Natsu, grinning at her like the cat that ate the canary from her second storey window. Picking up the speed, Lucy crossed her room and opened her window inwardly so she didn't knock Natsu off-

Igneel?

"Natsu! Igneel! What are you doing here?" Lucy asked, shocked and a little angry. Yet, she was grateful, extremely happy that she go t to see Natsu on her birthday.

"It's your birthday, isn't it?" Natsu asked her in the same manner in which someone would ask for the date.

"Yeah, but…"

"Sorry we are a little late, Lucy, but we had to wait until everyone fell asleep. Despite how amusing it would be seeing your father's reaction to me, we didn't think that _that_ particular meeting would go in our favour," Igneel answered her unspoken question. "Besides, we've missed all your birthdays so far, but we certainly were not planning on missing this one!"

Lucy stepped out of the way of the window so Natsu could jump into her room. "Thanks guys… I mean it," she said after a pause. Without even realising what she was doing, Lucy pulled Natsu into a hug. The eleven year old boy blushed, but returned the hug.

"Oh, yeah!" Natsu said once he was released from the hug. Lucy's scent had assaulted his nose, still very much the same as it had been four years ago. He loved the feeling it gave him, even if he didn't entirely understand it yet. "We brought you a present!"

Natsu leaned out the window, and Igneel chucked something up to him using his teeth.

"Here you go, Happy Birthday!"

Lucy thanked him, taking the thing that was held out to her in his hand. It was a belt, bright red and scaly looking. On either side, where it would sit at the hips, were two little loops, used for hooking stuff onto (like a ring of keys). It was big enough to last her until adulthood and beyond, able to adjust to distant sizes. Running her hands over the weird, and slightly _warm_ texture, her eyes widened when she realised what exactly the belt was made out of.

"Dragon scales…" she mumbled, and then hugged Natsu again, this time tighter than the last. "Thank you, thank you, _thank you!_"

Natsu shrugged. "It's alright. You're my best friend. That means I can give you awesome birthday presents and you can't complain! But of course, it means you have to get me awesome birthday presents too."

Just seeing Natsu there, grinning at her was a present enough for Lucy. She laughed, linking his arm with hers. "Thank you, Igneel!" she yelled out the window. Lucy heard Igneel's rock-slide-like-chuckle.

"It's fine, Little Lucy!"

Lucy dragged Natsu over to her bed, where they sat, enjoying each other's company, not necessarily talking.

Little did they know, though, that this would be the last time the children would feel truly happy for a long, long while.

Because once Natsu left, they wouldn't see each other for another seven years.

If only they knew of the heartbreak that was just around the corner…

* * *

><p><em><strong>So,<strong> I hope you all enjoyed the fluff while you could! Because next chapter will have angst, though not a lot, but absolutely no Natsu-Lucy interactions WHATSOEVER!_

_IMPORTANT FOR THE SAKE OF THE STORY: I have a poll up on my profile, about what exactly will happen in this story cannon-wise. It's basically asking whether I should do all arcs and all episodes/chapters covered in the manga or anime, or just important events, and add my own little fluffy bits, or both. So please, your vote would be much appreciated._

_Well, that's all I've got to say for now... Until next time-_

**_GreentreeFrog._**


	6. Prelude to Destiny

_**Well** this was up 24 hours later than I wanted it to be, but I guess that's ok... _

_This is the last chapter of this arc, and to celebrate it, I've... Drawn a picture! ... Yeah, not that exciting. I'm more of a writer than an artist, and this was the first picture I've done on the computer in AGES, but if you still want to see it, it's here: http: / . com / ?qh=§ion=&q=Charcoal+heart+Childhood+memories# / d4wyeot_

_Just remove the spaces... Now, I'm going to speak to a certain someone... STEFF! I know you're reading this, and guess what, I'm gonna blackmail ya. If you review, I'll update on Sunday. ^-^ hear that, everyone? If I don't update on Sunday, you can all blame Steff... _

_Ok, just a bit of a warning, I almost cried while writing the first part of this chapter..._

* * *

><p>Nothing about the morning of 7th July, X777 told anyone that it would be the worst day in a lot of people's lives. The sun was out, there was a light breeze, birds were singing, rabbits and deer could be seen sniffing around outside and not a cloud to be seen in the sky. So really, it was the perfect morning… until a certain someone woke up to experience it.<p>

Lucy had slept uncomfortably that night, nightmares invading her dreams. Around one o'clock in the morning, she gave up trying to sleep on her own, sliding out of bed to feel the cool marble floor beneath her feet. She crossed the room and opened the door without a sound, lest she wake up one of the maids in the servants' quarters, which were on the floor below. The manor seemed eerie at night, it wasn't a sight Lucy was used to. Normally she would be tucked up in her bed, sound asleep. Just not that night.

Tiredly, Lucy tiptoed to her parents' room, opening the door. She wasn't scared of waking her father, as Jude was out on a business trip, not due to return until later that morning. Lucy jumped up onto the massive bed next to her mother, allowing the frail woman to wrap her arms around her, falling into a deep, nightmare-free sleep.

When Lucy stirred, on that beautiful morning, something just did not feel right. She was cold… freezing, in fact. But that couldn't be right- hadn't she fallen asleep in her mother's arms? She could still feel the arms, but the embrace felt _off_. The arms were, cold, and laying limp around her.

Lucy yawned and stretched like a cat before opening her eyes. Her mother's ceiling greeted her and the ten-year-old grinned.

"Mama, thanks for letting me sleep here with you last night," Lucy whispered, turning to look at her mother. The young celestial mage frowned when she saw her. The woman was pale, _too_ pale, almost grey. Her normally spectacular blonde hair was no longer shining, but a peaceful smile sat upon her face.

"Mama?" Lucy asked, sitting up a bit more when the woman didn't respond. "Mama, are you ok?"

Getting a little desperate (and very scared), Lucy shook her mama to get her to wake up. But Layla Heartfilia did not stir.

"_Mama_," she whimpered, shaking her with more force. "Wake up… please! Mama! _WAKE UP! MAMA!"_

* * *

><p>In a forest, many miles away from the frantically screaming girl, a pink haired boy was also starting his day. Like his best friend, he woke up freezing… something he was definitely not used to. Immediately snapping open his eyes, Natsu stood up and surveyed his surroundings. He swore he fell asleep curled up against Igneel's side, like always… so where was Igneel now?<p>

Running into the cave, Natsu looked to see if his adoptive father had left him a symbol, or rather, message scratched into the wall like he normally would if he had to leave for a period of time before Natsu awoke. However, the wall was bare.

"Father?" Natsu asked, raising his voice so the dragon could hear him. "Father, where are you?" Naturally, Natsu assumed that because there was no message left behind, Igneel wouldn't be far away at all. Yet the eleven-year-old couldn't see him.

"Father? Igneel!" Natsu started yelling when he didn't get a response. Fearing the worst, Natsu ran into the forest to see if he could track Igneel's scent. But there was no sign of it anywhere. In fact, it was almost as if everything about the fire dragon had disappeared into thin air, including his scent.

"Igneel!" Natsu screamed himself hoarse, running around the forest in which he resided. Unfortunately, the dragon slayer could find neither hide, nor hair of him. "_WHERE ARE YOU? FATHER!"_

* * *

><p>At the edge of the forest, a short, elderly looking man was listening to what could only be screams, echoing in the wind. The man winced, gripping his 'staff' tightly in his hand. He hated hearing children screaming. Perhaps that's why he took so many in… he always tried to give them all a home.<p>

Makarov Dreyar started his long trek into the forest. It was a pity that so many hearts had to be shattered on this beautiful morning. To think, sadness and anguish that he had heard in the child's voice actually existed in one so young… Loss was a terrible, terrible thing. Though Makarov knew it was not just the dragon the boy would be losing.

Getting fed up with the little (no pun intended) progress he was making in his small form, Makarov activated his magic, growing until he could touch the tops of the tallest trees with his head. Careful not to step on any wildlife, the old man's journey was much quicker than it would have been if he had been his normal size. It was when he finally reached the clearing he had visited many years ago did Makarov deactivate his magic.

The calls for 'father' were exceptionally loud here, and if Makarov didn't know any better, he would have said it was a young dragon, rather than a human boy calling for his father. Sighing, he stepped into the clearing, clearly seeing his new charge for the first time.

The boy was an average height for his age, though his extremely spiky pink hair gave the illusion he was taller than he actually was. Tears poured from his slanting, onyx, dragon-like eyes, and when he opened his mouth to scream for his father and mentor again, Makarov caught sight of fangs, rather than teeth. He was naked from the waist up, the exception being a scaly scarf wrapped around his neck. The boy had not noticed him enter his clearing yet, but Makarov couldn't blame him.

Whistling shrilly to get the dragon apprentice's attention, Makarov stepped more into the clearing.

"Why are you crying, child?" he asked, trying to step closer, but the boy backed away cautiously.

"Igneel's disappeared! He's gone, he's not answering me!" the boy wrangled out in is rough, croaky voice. Makarov, nodded, already knowing this to be the case from the boy's screams.

"So it's time, then…" the old man muttered, inaudibly to the pink haired boy. "I am Makarov Dreyar, Third master of the wizard's guild _Fairy_ _Tail_, and acquaintance of your father, Igneel."

The boy looked at him curiously through teary eyes. "Y-you knew Ig-hic-Igneel? You can tell me where he went, right?" the boy practically demanded, but Makarov shook his head sadly.

"I do not know where he has gone- I only knew this day would come. That is why Igneel approached me. I was to take you in once he was gone."

Finally, the tears stopped. "You take me in? But why can't Layla?"

_Layla?_ Makarov asked himself, not familiar with the name. He knew the child had had contact with other humans, but as far as he was aware, there was no one named Layla. There was one name Gildarts had told him… Lucille or something, but not Layla.

"I don't know about this 'Layla', but Igneel specifically requested that I take you with me back to Fairy Tail so you could join my brats and 'become a proper wizard.'" Makarov gave a self-satisfied nod, before he realised there was something missing. "Say kid, what's your name?"

"Natsu," the now named boy answered, fiddling with his scarf. "If I go with you… will I see Lucy again?"

Makarov didn't know what to say. _Lucy_, so that was the girl Gildarts mentioned… he carefully thought over his words before answering. "While I cannot say for certain that you will see each other again soon, I do know that not all goodbyes are forever. Farewells are necessary before you meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends."

Natsu thought over Makarov's statement, and his options. He could stay, searching for Igneel until he found him, which could take lifetimes, or he could go with Makarov to this 'wizards guild', and become stronger, so he could protect Lucy and search for Igneel at the same time. While the second option was definitely better, the chances of seeing Lucy again dramatically decreased. But…

"Ok, I'll go," Natsu complied, turning so he could gather what little possessions he had in the cave. "Just wait a few minutes."

"Take all the time you need."

As grateful as he could be in a situation like the one he was currently in, Natsu first grabbed a small, forest green blanket, laying it out on the ground. Then, he laid his only other possessions on top of it- a spare pair of pants, a small pocket book of the constellations (from Lucy) and a bright red dragon scale. Folding the corners of the blanket over his objects, Natsu fashioned himself a make-shift rucksack, flinging it over his shoulder. On his way out, of the cave, he grabbed the red jacket that Layla had sewn for him not too long ago.

Without turning back, Natsu followed Makarov out of the forest, and to his new beginning.

* * *

><p>Natsu followed Makarov to his guild on foot, walking for three straight days. It was obvious it was wearing the dragon slayer's nerves thin.<p>

_When are we going to get there! This is taking _forever_!_

The only thing that seemed to keep him moving at that point, was the fact they were in another town. The 'old-geezer', as Natsu called him in his head, had informed him that this town's name was 'Magnolia.' The people here seemed to know the geezer, as they waved at him and tried to convince him to come into their shops and have a drink. Makarov, of course, declined every single one of them.

It was when Natsu smelt a large body of water just beyond the building Makarov was heading towards, did they stop.

"This, is Fairy Tail," Makarov said proudly, sweeping his hand towards the decent-sized complex. Above the door was a large sign saying 'Fairy Tail', and near that was a large banner that showed what could only be the guild's symbol. To Natsu, the symbol looked almost like an angular fairy with a tail, from its hair flowing out behind it and the wings extending from the 'fairy's' back.

"Hey, old man! Why is it even called Fairy Tail?" Natsu asked. The name was a little girly, if you asked him.

Makarov's eyebrow twitched at the old-man statement, but answered nonetheless. "Just listen to these questions, Natsu… Do fairies really have tails? Do they even exist? Like them, this place is an eternal mystery, a never-ending adventure."

Like Makarov told him to, Natsu pondered the words. It sounded reasonable, now. Perhaps, he could be happy here. Well, if there was adventure- definitely! But if Lucy was with him… it would make everything so much better.

"Well, are you coming?"

Natsu was startled out of his thoughts, not having noticed that the old geezer was waiting for him by the doors. Natsu followed cautiously, not knowing what to expect.

Chaos… that was Natsu's first impression of the guild, fists, food and occasionally people were flying, but Makarov didn't seem too concerned.

"OI! BRATS!" the fighting stopped immediately at Makarov's shout, and everyone turned in his and Natsu's direction, making the boy a little nervous. "We have a new-comer. This is Natsu, make him feel welcome!"

If every eye wasn't on the boy before, then they sure were now. There was silence, until a boy, around Natsu's own age, with black hair and wearing only his underwear spoke up.

"Natsu? Summer, right? You look weird."

Natsu was immediately offended, but at least the conversation had started back up again. "Who are you callin' weird, you stripper?" he shot back.

"Stripper? Why you…"

And like it was completely natural for their first meeting, the two boys were at each other's throats, without even knowing a thing about the other's magic. Makarov sighed, going to the bar to get some booze. Natsu would sure either make or break this guild…

"_BREAK THIS UP!_" A girl yelled, forcibly grabbing the two fighting children and holding them away from each other. "Gray, you should know better! AND WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT WALKING AROUND THE GUILD IN ONLY YOUR UNDERWEAR?" 'Gray' winced, but then glared at the red haired girl. "And new kid, you should know that we are all nakama here- we don't fight! My name is Erza. Now apologise, now!"

Natsu snorted. "Like I'm going to apologise to him- he started it!"

"Me? What are you talking 'bout, princess-hair?" Gray retorted, and like clockwork, they were back at each other's throats.

Erza's eyebrow ticked. She definitely didn't want (or need) to be ignored. Grabbing the two once again, she slammed their heads together and threw them at the wall. Both boys laid on the ground, on the brink of unconsciousness, with massive, steaming lumps on their heads.

"I'll get you later, stripper…" Natsu muttered.

"I'll be ready, weirdo…" Gray said in much the same manner. Both were so out of it they didn't notice Erza herself engaging in a fight with a white-haired teen.

* * *

><p>Natsu's days from then on were spent either:<p>

a) Fighting Gray

b) Practicing his magic so he could grow stronger for Lucy

c) getting beaten up by Erza

or d) all/a mixture of the above.

There were times that were tough for Natsu, and he couldn't help but wish he could see his best friend. One particularly hard time happened just days ago…

* * *

><p>"<em>Hey, Lisanna!" Natsu called to the white-haired girl that he had become friends with. "Look at this, I'm going to take my first mission!"<em>

"_Natsu, do you even know what that says?' Lisanna asked doubtfully, pointing at the piece of paper. _

_The dragon slayer coloured, turning his back to her. "Sure I know! It…erm… says 'Please help us get rid of this super scary monster for 5000J!'" he made up. _

_Lisanna giggled. "Silly, that's not what it says. Are you sure you can read?" By this point, most of the guild present were listening to the conversation. _

"_Of course I know!" Natsu shouted indignantly. "Igneel and Lucy taught me!" This was not the first time he had mentioned either of those names. From what the guild could gather, Igneel was the name of the man, or rather, dragon, who raised him. No one was entirely sure who 'Lucy' was, though. "I can read stuff like spaghetti, pizza, ramen, Scorpio, ice-cream… Leo… Aquarius…." Now the poor boy was close to tears._

"_Those are only foods and… constellations?" Erza said superiorly, joining their little conversation. "So you don't _really_ know how to read."_

"_I do know how to read! They taught me! Igneel taught me how to read the names of the foods, and Lucy taught me the constellations!"_

_Erza shook her head. "That's not enough if you want to get by, being a mage. Come! I shall teach you, and by the end of my lessons, you'll be able to read any request shown on the board!"_

_And thus started the lessons from hell…_

* * *

><p>"Stupid Gray… stupid Erza…." Natsu was muttering as he punched a tree in the East Forest. Although he hadn't admitted it to anyone yet, Fairy Tail had easily become Natsu's new home. There were things that could have made it better (Lucy by his side and no Gray or Erza), but he was happy.<p>

Through all of his punching, Natsu didn't notice the way the branches of the tree shook, until the thing that dropped out literally landed on his head.

"OW!" yelled Natsu, summoning flames around his hands, ready to beat whatever hit him to a pulp. "What did-" He cut himself off, however, when he noticed what the object was. "A… dragon's egg?"

Eyes widening, Natsu raced back to the guild with the egg in hand, excited to show the others his find. Perhaps they would really believe him now about the dragons! He had been trying to tell them he was raised by one, but many were still a bit disbelieving. Kicking open the doors, Natsu hobbled straight to the bar in his guild.

"Hey, guys! Look what I found!"

"Natsu, where on Earth did you get _that_?" Master asked from his position on top of the bar. The boy grinned proudly.

"In the East Forest!"

"What is that?" Cana asked, coming over to take a look with Gray. Natsu looked at her as if he thought there was something wrong with her.

"Isn't it obvious?" he started, "It's a dragon's egg!"

"What makes you think that, Flame-Brain?" Gray sniped, but internally, the ice mage was impressed.

"Look at the markings, don't they look like a dragon's claw?" Natsu was starting to get a little impatient. He wanted the dragon to hatch, and these two weren't helping. "Hey Master, can you use some type of magic to make the egg hatch or something?"

"No Natsu," Makarov reprimanded slightly. "To do that would be destroying the miracle of new life. You must let things take it's natural course."

Needless to say, the young dragon-slayer was confused. "What?"

"What that means," interrupted a bossy voice, "Is that you have to let the egg hatch naturally!"

"Go away, Erza…" Natsu huffed, crossing his arms. "How am I supposed to do that anyway?"

"You've got to keep it warm," she explained, before she was interrupted by a white-haired demon teen.

"ERZA!" The voice came out of nowhere, just like the fist that landed in the armored girl's face, that sent the red-headed teen flying back into a wall. The whole guild sweat-dropped.

"So… all I have to do is heat it up, right?" _This should be easy enough…_ Natsu picked up the egg, and before anyone could stop him, the poor thing was surrounded by fire…. That was until stupid Gray knocked him away of course.

"You idiot!" the ice mage yelled. "You're supposed to keep it warm- not poach it!"

"Well how am I supposed to do that?" the dragon slayer asked angrily, crossing his arms and pouting a little. This would be easier with Lucy around! Why couldn't she be with him?

"I can help you with that, Natsu!" squeaked a small voice, a hand tugging on his sleeve. Lisanna stood there with pleading eyes. "I can help you hatch the dragon's egg!"

From that moment on, everything else was history. Of course, it definitely came as a bit of a shock to Lisanna when Natsu interrupted her about him, her and the egg being a family. He had told her if he was to be the dad, Lucy absolutely_ had_ to be the mum. He compromised that Lisanna was more like an aunt, and the girl seemed to accept that… though, that lead onto a whole other conversation…

* * *

><p>"<em>Natsu, if this 'Lucy' is the mommy, then does that mean you're going to be husband and wife with her when you grow up?" she asked in a way that only girls her age could. <em>

_The young boy, however, answered oppositely to what Lisanna asked. "Nope!"_

"_Oh…" then the takeover mage blushed, when a thought occurred to her. "Does that mean I'll be your wife?"_

_Natsu shook his head. "No! Dragons don't have wives anyway… Igneel told me that," he informed her, thinking back to a conversation he had with his adopted father after Lucy had left the first time. _

"_Don't have wives?" Lisanna repeated, and Natsu nodded. "But then how do they have baby dragons?"_

"_They have mates instead!" Natsu exclaimed, though he wasn't exactly sure what a 'mate' was… perhaps it was just the dragon version of husband and wife? But it seemed more than that, to him when Igneel had explained the concept to him._

_Lisanna colored again, drawing patterns in the dirt. "So will I be your mate some day?"_

_Natsu shook his head and answered negatively. "No… Igneel said I've already found my mate!"_

* * *

><p>When the 'dragon's egg' finally hatched (and the group realized that it wasn't so much as a dragon, more like a cat), Natsu had pulled out a faded green blanket and wrapped the small blue cat in it. He wished Lucy could see Happy, he had no doubt she would love him. That's why he gave Happy Lucy's blanket. That way, even if Lucy wasn't there, she would always be around Happy, just like him. He thought of Lucy everyday, wondering how she was, what she was up to, if she had collected any more keys, when he could possible taste her delicious fire again... The members of the guild had thought he had made up Lucy (just like some thought he made up Igneel), but other than the blanket, he had no proof she actually existed.<p>

His only saving grace was Gildarts. The man had recognized him at first sight, surprising the other guild members by running up to Natsu and asking if Lucy was with him. That made some believe that Lucy was real (a person other than Natsu talking about her helped) but many, like Gray and Erza were still doubtful...

* * *

><p>Lucy was miserable. The years since her mama died were, without question, the worst in her life. Her father had grown cold, unloving towards her. The only thing that mattered to him now was his quickly expanding business. She had overheard his plans for her at one of his meetings. He planned to marry her off as soon as she was old enough (fourteen), no questions asked.<p>

It was the eve of her fourteenth birthday at that very moment, and the thirteen year old celestial Mage was curled up on her bed. She was a broken spirit. She was constantly repressed by her father, unallowed to use her magic, her keys taken from her by her nanny under her father's orders (though Lucy had to admit the old woman looked gleeful when she snatched her keys from her). Lucy rarely used her fire magic, she was too paranoid her father would find out, and somehow stop her.

Her days were spent getting lectures on how to be an obedient heiress, no more playing outside, no more getting her hands dirty. When she wasn't in her lessons, Lucy was in her room curled up on her bed, wishing Natsu would magically appear and take her away from this place.

"Oh, I'm sick of your moping! Get up and get over it!"

Lucy sat up, whipping her head around so she could catch sight of who spoke. When she saw who it was, her heart literally stopped.

"Aquarius...?" she asked as she stared at the spirit.

The water-bearer had appeared without being summoned, swinging a ring of keys around her fingers. When Lucy looked for the body off water that was necessary for Aquarius, she saw the Zodiac hovering above a very small puddle of tears.

"Before you start asking stupid questions, I'm the second-strongest Zodiac, which means I'm able to summon my own gate. Listen, we're all sick of your depressed outlook on life. I made I promise to your mother that I would protect you from anything- and right now, that's your father," explained the gold key spirit.

"W-why would you protect me? I mean- you hate me!" Lucy quickly cut herself off though, at the glare Aquarius gave her. "Um, how are you supposed to protect me- tomorrow I'm going to be fourteen, which is old enough for my father to marry me to some stranger!"

Aquarius chose not to respond to the first question, but answered the second, however by chucking something at Lucy. "Don't you dare lose those again!" Lucy caught the object that was aimed at her face between her hands. The familiar feel of her keys between her fingers comforted Lucy immediately, this was the first time she had held them in almost three years.

"I've given you the means to protect yourself now, so I'll be going- just don't forget to make that contract with my boyfriend!" the zodiac spirit demanded, giving Lucy the scariest glare yet (one that made the teen break out in a cold sweat). "Get of here, blondie. Find that stupid pink-haired friend of yours and join a guild." Aquarius flicked her fishy tail in impatience.

"Wait, how am I supposed to do that?" Lucy asked, her mind blank, refusing to hope.

"Run away. Duh." That was Aquarius' parting statement, before disappearing in a bright flash of light.

_Run_ away... Lucy hadn't even thought of doing something like that until Aquarius mentioned it. Staring at the keys which were warm in her hand, Lucy made up her mind. Slipping off her bed, she almost tripped over her sheets because she was in such a hurry. Running to the back of her closet, Lucy pulled the flowy blue shirt she wore on her tenth birthday. It still fit, even if it was a little tighter around the bust (ok, a lot tighter) and it only came down to just past her hips, but it was enough.

She pulled off her dress and slipped the shirt and some leggings on, a white skirt over them. Fishing out some hunting boots from the back, Lucy pulled them on before standing back up straight. Then, running over to her duchess outside the closet, Lucy opened the bottom drawer. She pulled out a box and opened the lid. Inside, sat a whip, curled up. Lifting that out, Lucy quickly grabbed the object beneath it. It was a scaly red belt, the very same one she received for her tenth birthday.

_I'll find you Natsu... And when I do, I promise we will never be apart again!_

* * *

><p>Almost exactly four three years after the blonde celestialfire mage's internal promise, a certain dragon slayer was packing his bag, though this time, it wasn't for a mission.

"Oi, where are you heading to, Natsu?"

The poor teen almost jumped out of his skin when he heard the voice right behind him. Natsu whirled around so he could glare properly at the ice Mage. "Gray! How come you're in my house? No, better question yet, why are you naked? Get out you perv!"

Gray looked down, and sure enough, even his skivvies were gone. "Naw crap'" he muttered, racing off to find his clothes. Ten minutes later, he came back, thankfully wearing underwear this time. "Anyways, you didn't answer my question! Where are you going?"

"I heard a rumor that a 'salamander' was hanging around Hargeon. I'm going to check it out, see if it's Igneel." Gray didn't have the heart to tell him that it most likely wouldn't be Igneel. After all, a dragon wouldn't hang around populated areas for too long, preferring to stick to the forests. "Alright Happy, let's go! And Gray? GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

"Aye" the blue cat exclaimed, making sure his fish were safely tucked into his makeshift, faded green knapsack.

"Natsu!" Gray called out before the fire Mage could get too far. "Don't be disappointed if you don't find what you're looking for!"

* * *

><p><em><strong>And<strong> now I officially declare the 'Prelude to Destiny' Arc... Complete! Next chapter is the meeting in Hargeon, so you better not miss it! It's got some nice little twists to look forward too, and of course, some NaLu fluff! _

_Im actually really glad they're not kids anymore... I mean, do you know how hard it is to write them as kids? Really hard! Because they haven't gone through the disappearance of their parents, their characters are slightly different, and I'm always so tempted to write them doing something more mature, like getting a crush, etc! Ok, complaining over._

_Can I just say... The response I've gotten for this first arc has been great, better than I expected, so thank you so, so much everyone! Also, thanks to all of you who have responded to my poll so far, you've been a great help._

_Well, until next time,_

_GreentreeFrog_.


	7. The Fairytale Begins

**_Well_**_ hello there! Fancy seeing you here! Please, please take a seat! No really, I insist! _

_So are y'all ready for this chapter? After all, it's the one most of you have been waiting for since chapter un! Not too sure this one lived up to expectations though, so I'm sitting here, hoping for the best!_

_Oh yeah, last chapter I forgot to thank those who wished me well in my recovery! To quote Toystory, "-we are eternally grateful!" No, my concussion didn't give me multiple personality disorder, I just love that quote! ^-^ ALSO! 100 Reviews! Thanks! I didn't expect this to be _that _popular! I really AM eternally grateful! Also, thanks to everyone who's alerted/faved this. I'm barely starting this story, and I already have a sequel planned! ...yeah, I have no life. _

_I think I've kept you waiting long enough. Sit back, relax, oh! And don't forget to visit the Confectionary stand! We have great deals on popcorn and chocolate at the moment!_

* * *

><p><em>In a land far, far away, lies the kingdom of Fiore. A small, peaceful nation of seventeen-million, and a place filled with magic.<br>Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace, for most, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life.  
>For some, however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the Wizards. Banded together into magical guilds, they apply their skills in search of fame and fortune.<br>Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that soars high above the rest. One in which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue making legends well into the future.  
>Its name… is <em>Fairy Tail.

* * *

><p>"Um, excuse me, sir?"<p>

"Natsu! We've made it to Hargeon!" a blue cat exclaimed excitedly. He tried getting his pink haired companion up and going, but he had no luck. The cat had to feel sorry for him though, it had to be tough getting motion sick like that every time he went on any type of transport.

"C'mon, get up already!" the cat started hitting the pink-haired teen. Although he felt sorry for him, the cat was too used to this happening.

"Is he alright?" the conductor asked a little hesitantly.

"Yeah," the cat answered, "He's fine, this always happens when we travel! C'mon, Natsu, what if Igneel is waiting for us!"

That seemed to do the job. In the blink of an eye Natsu was out of the train, speeding off into the distance, dragging his furry, blue companion behind him.

* * *

><p>"<em>EEH?<em> There's only _one_ magic store in this whole town?" a curvy blonde girl exclaimed in surprise and disappointment. The old man behind the counter seemed oblivious to her tone, however.

"This town is more prosperous in fishing than magic to begin with. Only less than 10% of town-people can use magic, so this store is mainly targeting travelling mages," the old shopkeeper informed her unnecessarily.

Lucy sighed, dragging her hand down her face. She didn't need to know the stupid statistics of how many people in Hargeon used magic- she just needed what she was asking for.

"Listen," Lucy said, _trying_ to be patient. "All I'm after is some powerful gate-keys. Do you have any?" Even though she asked, the celestial mage really doubted that this particular store had any. Considering what the old man had just told her about the shop aimed at travelling wizards, the likelihood of this magic store having what she wanted was extremely low.

"Gate keys, huh?" the shopkeeper pondered her request, before gesturing to the glass display case sitting on the counter. "These are the only ones we've got!"

Lucy glanced at them and sighed. She was about to give up, but then she caught sight of a thin silver key with a familiar symbol on it.

"White dog!" she exclaimed, picking up the key and cradling it to her chest.

"Why that one? I know that key isn't particularly powerful…" the old man behind the counter muttered in confusion.

"I know! But I've been looking for it for _ages_!" _It _is_ Echo's little brother, after all… he'll be so pleased!_ "So how much?"

"20,000 Jewel!" the man said without hesitation and Lucy shook her head as if to clean out her ears.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" she asked, hoping that it wasn't what she had just heard.

"I said 20,000 Jewel."

Huffing, Lucy crossed her arms underneath her rather large bust, pouting a little. Time to use her feminine charm. "Aw, how much is it _really_ worth?" She hopped up on the counter and grinned flirtatiously, adding in a wink.

A minute later saw the blonde teen storming out of the shop, 18,000J lighter and another silver key attached to her ring. _Stupid old geezer… probably blind… _Those were the types of thoughts running through her head at that moment. Deciding this port town wasn't worth staying in, Lucy elected to go in the direction of the train station. On the way, she passed a newspaper booth, and stopping for only a moment, she bought the newest edition of _Sorcerer Weekly._

Lucy always made sure she had the latest copy of the magazine, since that time she had left home. It wasn't just to keep up with the hottest and most beautiful Wizards of her time and their guilds (though that certainly was a big part of it), but to see if she could find any news about her best friend. When Lucy ran away from home on the eve of her fourteenth birthday, the first thing she did was travel in the direction of the forest Natsu and Igneel lived in. Unfortunately, once she got to the clearing that she stayed that first week in, the cave was bare, like it had been abandoned for some time, and there was no sign of the Fire Dragon nor his Slayer. Then, around two years ago, Lucy read an interesting article in the _Weekly_, about a powerful mage from Fairy Tail, who left an awful amount of destruction behind him. They had called him '_Salamander'_, because of his rare type of fire magic. The articles continued from then on, most of the time having at least one article about the powerful Salamander of Fairy Tail in each issue.

The only thing stopping Lucy from heading to Magnolia and joining Fairy Tail (and hopefully finding Natsu) was fear. She was scared of turning up to Fairy Tail, meeting Salamander and then finding out it wasn't Natsu. She was scared of showing up at the Guild doors and then them rejecting her because she wasn't powerful enough. But the thing she was absolutely terrified of, was her joining Fairy Tail, and Natsu not remembering her. And why should he remember her? It had been seven years, and he probably had new friends to replace her.

That didn't stop her from wanting to join Fairy Tail, though. In fact, it probably just made her want to join even more.

A teenage girl, around Lucy's own age bumped into her, pulling the mage out of her thoughts. "Salamander's here! You know, the famous wizard!" she was yelling to her friend as they ran off in the direction of the centre of town.

_Salamander_… Lucy thought, eyes widening. _As in, the wizard who uses a rare type of fire magic that can't be bought in stores?_

Lucy followed the girls to the town square, subconsciously squashing down any hope rising that the 'Salamander' was Natsu. She followed the girls until they stopped in a middle of a large crowd of teens, squealing excitedly, shouting 'Salamander, Salamander' to get his attention.

Lucy pushed through the crowd until she was at the front, staring wide eyed at the black-haired man who made her heart throb.

Who was she thinking about, again? Surely it was this handsome man, who- _was looking directly at her!_ He grinned at her, and did she imagine the way his dark eyes lit up at seeing her? It was like it was just Lucy and Salamander, their eyes locked. It was love at first sight, just like a fairy tale. Her heart was in pounding-

"Igneel, Igneel!"

_Crack._

Like the boy was a catalyst, the spell was broken when he stumbled through the gap between fangirls. Lucy stared wide-eyed at the pink-haired traveller who had lifted the enchantment. It couldn't be…?

The pink haired wizard stared at 'Salamander' with blank, onyx eyes, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Who are you?"

His voice was rougher, and deeper than she remembered it (obviously, the last time she had seen him he was eleven) but it still had the same qualities. It had to be him.

Lucy didn't have any time to stare, though, as two rabid –because that was the only way to describe them- fangirls had tackled him and sent him flying, beating him and insulting him because he didn't know who 'Salamander' was. So, cringing slightly, Lucy instead chose to glare at the dark haired man who called himself 'Salamander'.

"Now, now girls, this has surely just been a misunderstanding!"

_Ick_, even his voice conveyed sleaze, and after what she had just figured out, Lucy definitely didn't want to know the intentions of this mysterious man.

"Ooh, Salamander, you're too kind!" the girls squealed, falling 'in love' with him even more.

'Salamander' pulled a piece of card out of his cloak and signed an elaborate signature onto it, handing it to the male who was still on the ground. "Here, have my autograph, you can show it to all of your friends!" The teen didn't move to take it, so the blue cat that was beside him did, making sure his claws scratched the man as he took it. Then, the cat and his companion, stomped off. Lucy heard 'Salamander' say something about a party on his yacht, but didn't pay any attention. As soon as the 'Sleaze-bag' had disappeared in a flashy show of purple fire, the celestial mage followed after in the direction of the pink haired boy.

She found them sitting on the walkway in a side-street, grumbling and complaining about who-knows-what.

"Who was that anyway?"

"I don't know, but he sure was creepy…" Lucy said, inserting herself into the conversation. "Thanks for earlier!" She said this with a wide smile, her eyes shut and her head tilted to the side.

_That scent…_ Natsu's eyes shot to the size of carriage wheels. _She looks like her… smells like her, even has the same hairstyle! It's got to be her, it has to be!_

"_Lucy?" _

The blonde felt something knock into her, and strong arms slide around her waist. Natsu nuzzled his head in the juncture between her neck and her shoulder, inhaling her scent with his eyes closed and an extremely happy smile on his face. Lucy was too surprised to react at first, but then wrapped her own arms around him, a smile on her face that could rival Natsu's own wide grin.

"_Natsu_," she mumbled, stroking his messy pink locks. It was really him… he remembered her… _This is perfect._

Happy watched all this from the side, tugging at the knapsack wrapped around his neck with his little paws. While the small cat had never even _seen_ Lucy before this moment, it felt to him like she was always there. Perhaps it was the way Natsu always told him stories about her, constantly talking about the best friend he grew up with, and how Happy would love her. Or perhaps it was because of her scent, one Happy immediately associated with _home._ It was the very same scent that was his first to smell, the one that stained the faded green blanket Natsu had wrapped him in. The same scent that intermingled with Natsu's own on the tattered old scarf that the dragon slayer always wore.

Or maybe, a reason wasn't even needed. It was just who Lucy was.

In a rare display of tact for the talking, blue cat, he stayed silent, and just let his best friend/brother/father have his moment with his friend.

"I missed you," Natsu muttered into Lucy's ear, shifting his head so it sat on top of the celestial mage's. Lucy snuggled her head into Natsu's chest, absently noting how well-built it was.

"I missed you too… so, _so_ much," sighed Lucy, feeling tears beginning to prick in her eyes.

_I wish we could stay like this forever..._

Natsu was the first to release the tight embrace, but he maintained skin contact, holding Lucy at arm's length so he could take in how much she had changed. And boy, had she changed! Her hair was in the same style that it had always had been, even done up in the same way he himself had done it when they had first met. Her wide brown eyes had a slightly haunted look to them that wasn't there before, but other than that they were still as beautiful as he remembered.

_Whoa, since when did I think Lucy was beautiful?_

Internally shaking his head, Natsu moved on. Lucy was _curvier _(that was sort of an understatement), and even he had to admit she had a hot body. She wore a white and blue tank-top, which fit her quite snugly, a blue short skirt and brown, knee-length boots. Resting on her hips was a bright red belt, holding a whip and a ring of keys. He noted with glee that his best friend had more gold keys on that ring than before, and he was excited to find out which ones.

While Natsu was looking at how much Lucy had changed, the celestial mage was doing the same thing. His wild, pink hair was still has spiky as ever, going in every direction. His slanting eyes were more dragon-like before, and poking through his big smile, were extremely sharp teeth. Fangs, even, dragon fangs. He still wore that mangy old scarf, and there was no doubt in her mind that the white fabric was in fact dragon scales. She blushed when her gaze drifted lower, to his body. His chest was chiselled, hard and defined abs were poking through his black vest, and Lucy was positive that muscular arms lurked beneath the baggy red coat he wore.

But they couldn't stare at each other forever, and this was proven by the rather loud grumble coming from the small stomach of the blue cat. "Ehehe, sorry," muttered Happy, though he wasn't really that sorry.

"EEP! _Did that cat just talk?"_ exclaimed Lucy, leaping out of Natsu's range of contact to stare at Happy. Natsu grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

"Ah, yeah. Lucy, meet Happy! Happy, this is Lucy!" introduced Natsu and the blue cat held out his paw to shake.

"Aye! It's nice to finally meet you! Natsu's told me a whole _heap_ 'bout you!" Happy said as Lucy hesitantly grabbed his paw and shook it.

"Really?" she asked, her tone sugary sweet, but somehow managing to be scary at the same time. Natsu and Happy gulped. "What _exactly_ has he said about me?"

"Nothing, nothing!" the Dragon Slayer exclaimed, shaking both his head and hands, trying to look innocent. Happy realised his slip-up and nodded along with Natsu, halo around his head tilting slightly.

_Sure doesn't look like nothing…_

There was a rather large groan, this time coming from both Natsu and Happy, while Lucy raised an eyebrow.

"Hungry, huh?" she asked needlessly.

"Aye, but we have no money for food," Happy complained, looking like a kicked puppy, pouting pathetically.

"You should have just said something!" Lucy exclaimed, looking at Natsu thoughtfully. Without even taking a second to activate her magic, fire grew around Lucy's hands. Both of the males' eyes were wide, but for entirely different reasons- Happy was wondering if Lucy was a fire dragon slayer like Natsu (because she had also spent time with Igneel), and Natsu because he just couldn't wait to taste the brilliant flames again. Creating a decent-sized ball with the fire, Lucy tossed it between her own hands, then directly at Natsu's face. Said boy opened his mouth wide and swallowed it whole. Unlike most times when he swallowed fire, Natsu chose to savour the taste of the flames, and revel in the wonderful burst of power it gave him.

"That should keep you happy until we find a decent restaurant..." Lucy trailed off, looking at the blue cat. "What will you have, Happy?"

"Fish!" he exclaimed, jumping up and down at just the thought of the wonderful white meat.

_I should have known… _

"Alright, I think I passed a place on my way here that looks good, let's go- I'll pay!"

* * *

><p>They made it to the place Lucy described pretty easily, and they were shown to a booth and served in record time. Lucy almost regretted saying she would pay at the sheer amount of food Natsu and Happy ordered. When the mountains of food arrived, Lucy was certain she had made a mistake. She cringed when the boys dug into the food, scraps flying everywhere.<p>

"Guys, you can slow down!" Lucy mentioned, flinching when a fishbone hit her in the face. "Hey, I was meaning to ask earlier- why aren't you with Igneel, Natsu?"

Both cat and Dragon Slayer paused in their feasting, their expressions downcast. "Igneel… disappeared. Seven years ago, he just _vanished," _whispered Natsu, and Lucy had to lean in close to hear him.

This news hit Lucy hard. While she hadn't been a close to Igneel as Natsu had been, she had always thought of the fierce Fire Dragon as an adoptive uncle, or maybe even a second father. It was almost like losing her mother all over again.

"Natsu's been looking for Igneel since he disappeared, but we can't find him anywhere!" Happy cried, while somehow still managing to suck on his fish.

"I'm sorry, Natsu…" Lucy said softly, folding her hands in her lap.

Natsu waved her off. "Nah, it's ok. Besides, you were pretty close to him too, so you would've found out eventually. How's Layla? Why aren't you at the estate?"

Natsu's words didn't bring the happy atmosphere back like he had hoped. Instead, it seemed to grow darker. "I ran away," the celestial mage spat, and her best friend reared back at the coldness in her voice. "Mum died seven years ago- I wouldn't be surprised if it was around the same time Igneel disappeared- and father… well, once mum was out of the way, he was free to do with me as he pleased! He took away my keys and then decided to marry me off to some stranger for money. So I ran away."

Most of this was lost on Happy, who had no clue that the blonde sitting across from them was an extremely wealthy heiress. Natsu, however, was furious. Family was supposed to treat each other like family! Not objects! Lucy's father had made her absolutely miserable, from the sounds of it, and that was something he wouldn't forgive. He was also angry at himself, for not being there for Lucy. Some nakama he was, if he left his best friend alone while she needed him…

"Stop, Natsu! Don't blame yourself!" the dragon slayer opened his mouth to say something, but Lucy interrupted. "No, I can't read your mind, I just know you well."

"But-"

"I SAID DON'T BLAME YOURSELF!" Lucy yelled, reaching across the table and bringing her fist down on his head. Hard. Natsu's face smashed into the table, and Happy could see a trail of smoke coming from where Lucy had hit him. Happy gulped.

Natsu peeled his face from the table, rubbing his head. Lucy could pack quite a punch… it was almost as hard as Erza! 'R-right…" he grinned through the pain, making a mental note to stay out of hitting distance when he wanted to tease Lucy. "So, have you thought about joining a guild? I mean, you're not a full-fledged wizard until you do."

"Well…" Lucy began, and then whispered something that Natsu or Happy couldn't hear, even with their animal-like hearing.

"Sorry, what was that?" Happy asked, poking a paw in his ear to clean it out.

"_I said,_ I want to join Fairy Tail."

Natsu and Happy stared at her, and then looked at each other. Slowly, the dragon slayer's grin turned into a wide smile, flashing his fangs. "Why didn't you say so! We can take you home with us, after we finish this job!"

Lucy was startled. "You'd do that? Really?"

Happy nodded. "Uh-huh! I know Natsu would be _so_ much happier if you were in Fairy Tail with us! He never shuts up about it!" Natsu quickly but a hand over Happy's mouth so he could say no more, while the dragon slayer grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah, and Master will definitely accept you when I tell him how powerful you are!" Natsu cheered excitedly, already thinking of the jobs he could take on with Lucy on his team.

"So what exactly is this job?" Lucy asked, remembering the last part of Natsu's announcement.

"We needed an excuse to go to Hargeon, so we took a job we knew would take us here," Happy managed to get out over his seventeenth fish.

"Yeah, we've got to track down Bora the Prominence and bring him in. 'Parently he's been kidnapping women and selling them in Boscow. We heard he was in Hargeon, so we took it," explained Natsu, who was once again eating at the speed of light.

Lucy thought about it for a few seconds, before a thought occurred to her. "I think… I might know who it is…"

Natsu and Happy stopped with their eating to listen. "Well go on, " Natsu commanded.

"Well this is just a theory, but remember that guy from earlier? Said he was 'Salamander' and all?" Her two male companions nodded. "Well, the thing is, he can't be Salamander, because _you're_ Salamander, Natsu! He's posing as you, and using charm spells to get girls to go on his yacht. I bet that's how he does it- he lures the girls onto his boat and then he leaves port and kidnaps them, without them even realising!"

"Er…" Happy and Natsu stared at Lucy, not really understanding what she just said, as she said it so fast. Their eyes were blank, and Lucy face-palmed.

"That's stupid, Lushy! How can that guy pretend to be Natsu, he looks nothing like him! You're a weirdo…" the cat muttered, and then instantly regretted it when he came face-to-face with one of Lucy's scariest glares.

"_For starters, _my name is LUCY! It's not that hard to pronounce! And you have no right to call me a weirdo- you're a talking blue cat!" Lucy said menacingly. "And, while Bora may not _look_ like Natsu, no one knows that except us and probably people from Fairy Tail! All they know is the name _Salamander_, and that he uses a rare type of fire magic!"

"WAH!" screamed Happy, disappearing from his spot on the table to hide in Natsu's hair. "Natsu, Lucy's scary!"

"I know buddy, I know…" said Natsu comfortingly, stroking the blue cat on his head. Lucy growled and slammed some money on the table.

"Come find me when you two want to go back to Fairy Tail!" Lucy growled in an unexplainable fit of rage. She didn't know why she suddenly decided to storm out, especially since it was the first time she had seen Natsu in seven years. But, really, it didn't feel like seven years once she finally saw him… it was like no time had passed at all.

* * *

><p>An hour later found Lucy sitting on a park bench, flipping through her copy of <em>Sorcerer Weekly<em>. Natsu had run after her after she left the restaurant and begged for forgiveness (well, not begged, just looked pathetically at her with those wide eyes, a trick that had always gotten to her in the past), and was now out searching with Happy for the imposter. They had agreed to meet up at the train station at nightfall, hopefully by then Natsu would have caught Bora.

The celestial mage sighed, flipping to the centrefold of her magazine. A picture of a beautiful, bikini-clad, white-haired woman greeted her, and Lucy sighed. "Mirajane… she's so pretty! I wonder what she's like in real life…" _I'll meet her soon, hopefully… _"Oh, I really hope I can join Fairy Tail soon…"

"Oh, so you want to join Fairy Tail, do you?" a voice out of nowhere said, scaring the life out of Lucy.

"Gah!" she yelled, backing away from the man who had appeared from the bushes. "_Salamander!_" she said the name with a bit of ice in her voice, not that the man noticed, however.

"I've been looking all over for you," 'Salamander' said, holding his hand up casually to his chin, though Lucy saw through to the true purpose of the action.

"Your charm spell won't work," she told him bluntly, "You're a creep."

"Come now," Bora admonished in a smooth voice, not losing his cool for a second. "You don't want to talk about Fairy Tail's Salamander that way, do you? Especially when you want to join my guild."

_HA! I knew it! He's trying to impersonate Natsu! And that stupid cat didn't believe me…_ Inside, Lucy was doing a sort of happy dance, in knowing that her theory was correct.

"Heh, I know you're not the real Salamander. I was speaking to him earlier, actually," Lucy said arrogantly, putting a hand on her keys, ready to draw them at a moment's notice.

Bora started sweating, how did this clueless blonde know he wasn't Salamander? Surely she was bluffing! "W-what makes you think that I'm not the real Salamander? I mean, I use a rare type of fire magic!"

"Listen, Bora, I _grew up_ with Salamander. His fire magic is _totally_ different to yours!" Lucy was feeling pretty epic in that moment, sort of like the hero in all those books she's read.

"_HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?"_ Bora shouted, his mask finally slipping. Eyebrow twitching, he summoned a magic circle, getting ready to eliminate the pesky girl. "Never mind, you'll be gone before long."

_Not if I have any say in this!_ Lucy unhooked a specific key off her ring, in a style that came with only practice and experience. "Open, gate of the Scorpion! Scorpio!" A bright light blinded both mages briefly, before it dimmed. Standing beside Lucy was a muscular, dark-skinned man with red and white hair. A metallic tail was curled up behind him, making him look like a scorpion.

"Oh, so you're a celestial mage? No matter, you'll be no match for me!"

Lucy ignored him, speaking to Scorpio without looking at him. "You ready?"

Scorpio read his mistress' intentions, and nodded his consent. "We are, yes!" He held up his hands, his middle and ring fingers curled in while his other fingers were extended. "Combined attack!" he started, activating his sand buster and sending the attack in Bora's direction.

"Glass Geyser!" Lucy finished, using her fire to heat up the sand. When it finally reached the imposter, the sand covered Bora from head to toe, the fire changing its properties and trapping him in a pillar of hardened glass.

"There, that should keep him there until Natsu shows up!" she said, feeling on top of the world while dusting off her hands as if they had something dirty on them.

Scorpio nodded. "We are, going away for a week, Aquarius and I. She has requested that you not summon either of us during that time," the spirit said, conveying his girlfriend's request.

Lucy sighed in resignation, knowing that Aquarius wouldn't show up even if she summoned her during that time. "Alright, you guys have a good time, and thanks, Scorpio."

"We are, no problem. And thank you, Lucy," Scorpio said, disappearing in a flash of bright light. Turning around, Lucy stared at Bora, struggling to get out of his glass prison.

"LUUUUSHY!" a voice yelled, and before Lucy had any time to register who it belonged to, she was tackled by a small, furry something. Actually, make that _someone._ "Lucy, that was so cool! I saw everything!" Happy exclaimed, snuggling his head into her stomach. Lucy's eye twitched, knowing that the cat was just sucking up. But nevertheless, she gave in and stroked his fur.

"Thanks, Happy. Where's Natsu?"

"He's taking out the bad-guy's henchmen." Happy's voice was muffled slightly by her chest, but Lucy was still able to understand him.

As if on cue, the ground shook as an explosion appeared on the other side of town. Lucy yelped, clutching Happy tighter to her chest, unintentionally suffocating the poor thing.

"Luhhmmy! Lmm mmmm ghhhhh!"

"Huh?" Lucy asked, and then realised that the cat couldn't breathe, or talk for that matter. She released her tight hold on Happy, and he came up gasping for breath. "Oh, sorry Happy."

"Ah! I'm alive!" he gasped, his chest heaving. Rolling her eyes, Lucy continued stroking his fur.

Another explosion rocked the ground, this one closer to where Lucy was standing with Happy in her arms. A high-pitched whistle brought to her attention a smoking body, flying through the air, heading straight towards them.

"Eep!" she yelled, running to the left. Just in time too, because the body slammed into the ground _right_ where she was previously standing.

"It's raining thugs!" Happy screamed.

Natsu broke through the bushes, his hands still smoking. "That's the last of 'em…" he mumbled, before noticing his blonde friend. "Oh, heya Luce!"

"NATSU!" she shouted, dropping Happy, who sprouted wings and flew over to perch on top of the trapped Bora. "YOU ALMOST HIT ME!" Lucy stomped over to Natsu, a fire in her eyes that the dragon slayer remembered all too well.

"I didn't mean to Lucy! I mean, how was I supposed to know you were standing right there- er, who is that?"

"_That_, is Bora. I trapped him while you were taking out the hench-men," said Lucy, her voice still a little cold.

"Oh…"

"MEN! THIS WAY! I SEE THEM!" A voice screamed, and was followed by the sound of many footsteps.

"Oh crap!" Natsu yelled, grabbing Lucy and speeding out of there, Happy flying along behind them.

"Ahh! Natsu! That's the army! _What did you do?_" Lucy screamed, her arm felt like it was being ripped out of its socket.

"I sort of went a bit overboard!"

'_Understatement,_' Lucy thought when they passed the carnage that Natsu had created. Homes and shops were destroyed, some were still even on fire. '_Just how powerful is he, anyway?' _She had no time to ponder that, though, as Natsu was tired of dragging her along, and quickly pulled her into his arms, carrying her bridal-style while still running, and not slowing down one bit.

"Eep! Natsu, what are you _doing?"_

"What else would I be doing? I'm taking you to Fairy Tail!"

* * *

><p><em><strong>Ha! <strong>It's over! Actually, that was really fun to write... not my best work though..._

_So what did you guys think? Was their reunion what you expected it to be like? I found Happy's character very hard to write, to be truthful. That's why he may seem a little OOC... but I guess he's allowed to be OOC, I mean, even if he's never met Lucy before, all he's ever heard about is good things about her, so really, I think he'd act a little differently towards her at first (though that will definitely change xD ). _

_I'm quite proud of the attack 'Glass Geyser'. I wasn't orignally planning on putting anything like that in this story, but it came to me as I was sitting in chemistry, and it was too good to pass up._

_ANZAC day is on Wednesday, which means I'll have the day off from school, so I'll try and update them (after I finish my analysis for music)..._

_So, adios for now!  
><strong>GreentreeFrog<strong>_


	8. Fairies and their Masters

**Erm...**_I think apologies are in order. Life caught up to me, so I wasn't able to update, and for that, I'm sorry. But it also made me realise something, about this story and my writing. Now, hopefully, chapters should be better. _

_Now, in regards to questions and concerns raised in the reviews:_

**_1. LUCY will NOT be stronger than Natsu._**_ In my mind, Natsu is the strongest, and always will be, because of his ability to grow. Lucy's fire, while dragon fire, like Natsu's, isn't as powerful. In fact, it'll serve as a way to empower Natsu even further when he needs the boost._

**_2. Combined Attack is DIFFERENT to Unison Raid. _**_Unison raid is when two mages _combine_ their magic, at it's deepest level, resulting in a much more devastating or powerful outcome. Combined Attack is when the magics stay separate, but still effect each other because of natural causes. For example: sand will turn into glass if heated up enough, correct? Just like water will turn into ice if cooled. I guess you can call Combined Attack 'a sequence of events.'_

**_3. Lucy's and Natsu's personalities:_**_ yes, they will be slightly different, for reasons I will now explain- Lucy will be a lot tougher that she is in cannon, and perhaps a bit more violent, because of her upbringing with Natsu. Likewise, Natsu will tend to think things through a bit more, and also be a smidgen more patient, because of Lucy. Also, both of them have recieved the father/mother influence that they didn't get in cannon (Natsu had Layla through Lucy, who acted like a mother to him, and Igneel was a mento/father for Lucy)._

**_4. Keys:_**_ In regards to the keys Lucy recieved when her mother died, it is the same as cannon. I have... plans, devious plans *grins evilly*. So really, she has the same keys as she does in cannon at this point in the story, with the addition of Canis Major and Scorpio._

_Well I hope that answered everything... If you have anymore questions, just ask them in a review, and I'll answer them as best as I can! Thank you, to those who reviewed for the first time, and those who have been reviewing along the way, as well. I really do appreciate it ^-^_

_I believe I've kepy you long enough: Here's your chapter!_

* * *

><p>'<em>I can't believe I'm finally here…'<em>

Lucy stood outside of the Fairy Tail guild hall in stunned silence. Natsu was beside her tapping his foot impatiently. He was hungry, and he wanted to go inside. But Lucy had a firm hold on his arm, keeping him rooted by her side. Not that he couldn't break out of her hold easily, mind you, but something inside him told him to just stay by his friend's side.

"Natsu… are you sure they'll like me?" the celestial mage asked, suddenly feeling nervous and insecure. She turned to the dragon-slayer for support, who nodded encouragingly.

"Yeah, they will! You're a great person Luce- a wonderful friend!" he reassured, ignoring Happy who was sniggering behind his paw.

"Yeah, that and Natsu kept bragging about how you would fit in with the guild so well. He doesn't shut up about you," said cat muttered, earning Lucy's glare. "Eep!"

Lucy sighed one last time, staring at the doorway. "Well if you're sure…" she trailed off, though made no move to enter the guild hall.

"'Course I am!" Natsu exclaimed, grinning a wide, cheesy grin. Then, without so much as a warning, he kicked open the large door with ease and dragged a silently protesting Lucy through with him. Happy flew in after the two, wishing he had some sort of recording device.

Lucy's first impression of Fairy Tail was one that would be imprinted on her mind forever. Tables were systematically arranged around the hall, fitting in as many as possible. People –no, wizards- were sitting comfortably at them, talking, laughing, eating lunch, some even showing off small displays of magic. There was a bar at the far end, where a white haired beauty was serving a couple of mages. A request board was close to the bar, and she could see a couple of wizards mingling around it, occasionally taking a flyer off the board when they chose a job. There were some oddities, however. One of the first Lucy noticed, was a woman with long brown hair and a bag at her side, only a couple of years older than herself, sitting cross-legged on a table, downing a whole keg of alcohol. Another was a black-haired teen with droopy eyes, possibly the same age as Lucy, laughing at a joke told by a spiky-haired, bespectacled teen, wearing nothing but his underwear. Two women were draped over the one wearing glasses, the celestial mage almost gagging at the sight.

'_This place is great!'_

"WE MADE IT BACK ALIVE!"

Lucy winced, rubbing at her ears. Natsu didn't notice, however, as he was stomping up to a man with buckteeth. Then, to Lucy's utter astonishment, he proceeded to send the man flying with a single punch. She didn't know whether to hit him for doing it without warning, or be impressed with the dragon-slayer's strength.

What _really_ surprised her, however, was that no one reacted, except for the occasional exasperated sigh from the older members of the guild. Lucy even heard one smoking a pipe mutter something like '_Natsu's back.'_

"Oi! What was that for!"

"You lied about that salamander being in Hargeon!" he shouted, and Lucy huffed. Really, he had to have gotten over it by now!

"I was only passing along a rumour I heard!"

"You mean it was only a rumour?" screeched Natsu.

"You wanna fight?"

"Bring it!"

As if it was some sort of signal, the whole guild hall ceased their peaceful chattering, and erupted in chaos. Fists, food and occasionally people went flying and Lucy had to duck several times in order to avoid getting hit.

"Natsu's back, huh?" the droopy-eyed wizard growled, rising with his fists clenched. Lucy turned her head , not particularly wanting to see the guy in his underwear.

"Gray, your clothes!" called the woman who was drinking from the keg, as if it was a normal occurrence.

'Gray' ignored her, stalking towards Natsu with every intention of fighting him. "Che! I don't have time for that!"

The drinking lady sighed. "See, this is why I don't date the men here! They have no class!" She said this with a tone of finality, and then proceeded to drink from a second keg. Lucy snorted ungracefully.

'_Like you're one to talk,' _Lucy thought, sweat-dropping slightly. She was certainly surprised at the guild, yet the change of atmosphere was much more comfortable, in some strange way. Fairy Tail was different to how Lucy expected it to be, and yet… it was exactly how she _imagined _it. It only made sense: Fairy Tail had the reputation of being the rowdiest, roughest, and perhaps the most _dangerous_ guild in Fiore. It was in that moment, that Lucy decided she really wanted to _belong_ to this guild.

She continued to watch the guild fight and squabble amongst themselves, eyes widening when she recognised a few faces from _Sorcerer Weekly_. The first was a brute of a man, white hair on his head, dark eyes surveying the chaos, and strong muscle-bound arms prepared to fight. She noted vaguely that it was _Elfman Strauss_,brother to Mirajane. Another, she recognised, was the shades-wearing man she noticed earlier. She winced when she saw the most eligible wizard bachelor in Fiore, _Loke_, get hit in the head with a glass. She didn't know where Happy got to, Lucy assumed he was hiding in the rafters somewhere.

"Why hello there, are you new?" a chirpy voice asked over the clamour, drawing Lucy's gaze. The blonde's heart almost stopped, when she came face-to-face with one of her idols. "I'm Mirajane!"

"Oh, hi!" exclaimed Lucy, feeling her cheeks warming up. Internally, she cursed herself for blushing. "Um, are they always like this?" she asked, motioning towards the rest of the guild. She dragged her suitcase closer to her, to avoid it getting hit by a flying object, or even a person.

Mirajane giggled prettily, bringing a hand to her mouth. "Oh yes! I think it makes life rather exciting, don't you agree?" Lucy nodded in confirmation. "What's your name, by the way? I notice you came in with Natsu, do you know each other?" Lithely stepping out of the way to avoid her brother, who was knocked out by Natsu and 'Gray', Mirajane peered at Lucy curiously.

"Yeah, I do. My name is Lucy," she introduced herself, bowing her head a little. Mirajane froze, but she wasn't the only one.

The whole entire guild had gone silent at Lucy's name, fists were hovering in mid-air, and if they chose to, one could even hear a pin drop. Over at the bar, Happy sniggered, happily munching on his fish.

"L-Lucy, did you say?" asked Mirajane, stuttering at the name. Lucy nodded, but frowned. She didn't understand why her name caused such a reaction in the guild.

The blonde mage almost jumped out of her skin when she felt someone lay a warmer-than-average arm across her shoulders, before realising it was Natsu. She glared at him a little more, yet as always, he seemed to either pretend to not notice, or just not notice it at all.

"Yeah, this is Luce! I told everyone about her, remember?" This time, Natsu really did notice the glare coming from Lucy, flinching slightly.

'_Just what has he said about me…?'_ Lucy thought, plotting her revenge already in her head. However, her plotting was interrupted when the guy in only his underwear came up and _poked_ her. On her forehead.

"Are you alright there?" she bit out, annoyed and slightly repulsed (because, seriously, who wore only their underwear in public?).

"What do ya know… she really _does_ exist!" 'Gray' muttered, completely ignoring her. Lucy felt Natu's arm shift from her shoulders to her waist, wrapping around her slightly possessively.

"'Course she does, Ice-Princess! I told you so, and so did Gildarts!"

Loke also came up, standing next to his top-less friend, winking at Lucy. "Well, even if we doubted she existed, she sure is _beautiful_. Why don't you come with me, I'll show you the ropes," Loke said directly to Lucy, charming her with his good looks and easy-going personality. Well, trying to anyway. Said mage blushed again, biting her lip.

Natsu tightened his hold around Lucy, stifling a growl. He didn't know why he was acting like this- Loke was one of his friends! But… just the way he acted with her, something just screamed _danger!_ Thinking back on it, Natsu realised that there was just something about Loke, whether it be his odd scent, or just the way he acted, that seemed _wrong. _He chastised himself, knowing this was very out-of-character for him, he had no reason to distrust Loke! He was the one that helped show him to the guild, for Mavis' sake!

Oh, that sure was an interesting night…

* * *

><p><em>The Fire Dragon Slayer gazed at the stars with his blue companion. It had become a habit of his- Lucy had started it. He enjoyed watching the constellations and teaching them to Happy, and occasionally Lisanna. The white-haired girl was actually set to meet him there that night, she was just finishing helping her sister from hell, Mirajane.<em>

"_Natsu!"_

'_Speak of the devil,' thought Natsu, before waving his friend over. The take-over mage was panting slightly, like she had run all the way from the guild (which she probably had). "Here, Lisanna!"_

_She walked over to the teen and his cat, sitting down next to them. They sat in companionable silence for around ten minutes, until Lisanna spoke up._

"_Hey, Natsu…"_

"_Yeah, Lisanna?" he noted the hesitancy in his friend's voice, and was slightly dreading the question._

"_Um, did Lucy have a favourite constellation? Or was she too young to understand them?" she asked, genuinely curious about the best friend that she had only ever heard about. _

_Natsu sat, thinking back to the time that Lucy had taught him the constellations, many years ago. "Nah, she knew them. Luce was actually the one that taught me about them!" he studied the sky, frowning when he couldn't find what he was looking for. Recently, the constellation he was looking for had begun to dull, not shining as brightly as it once did months ago. Finally spotting Regulus, he pointed it out to Lisanna. "Her favourite was Leo. She wanted to own him one day."_

"_Own him?" Lisanna asked, puzzled as to what he meant._

_Natsu started in surprise. "Oh! Right, I haven't told you yet. Lucy was- is- a Celestial Spirit mage. It's her dream to own all the gold-key spirits, er, Zodiac. When we were about six- I think she was five, she got her first gold key. Her mum was a Celestial mage too, she's Lucy's idol."_

_Lisanna gaped at Natsu in shock. She had read about the Zodiac- and they don't give their keys lightly. For a Zodiac spirit to give a _five-year-old_ their key, well, that was some serious business. She was about to remark on it, too, but then, there was a rustling from the bushes to the left of them. _

_Out came a teen, just a few years older than herself and Natsu. Behind tinted shades, his eyes looked dead-tired, like he had been through too much. He was wearing a white dress-shirt, the first few buttons were undone, and dark-grey dress pants. His orange hair resembled a lion's mane, two spikes jutting out even made it seem like he had cat ears! He noticed the three (Happy included) staring at him, walking over with his hands in his pockets._

"_You wouldn't happen to be wizards, would you?" he asked, his voice smooth. Natsu was immediately on guard. The scent that was coming from the teen was familiar… but not. It was unnatural._

"_Yeah, what is it to you?" Natsu asked with a bit more bite than normal. Lisanna put a hand on his arm to calm him down. _

_The teen held up his hands. "Whoa, I was only asking because I want directions to this town's guild!"_

_Lisanna's expression cleared. "Oh! So you're a wizard too! We'll take you to Fairy Tail- our guild!" She stood up and held out her hand. "I'm Lisanna, this is Natsu and Happy! You are…?"_

_The teen hesitated before taking her hand. "Le-" he cut himself off, shaking his head. "My name is Loke." He said this with a bit of force, as if he was reminding _himself_ of who he was. The white haired mage nodded, and began leading him out of the park. _

_Happy and Natsu stared after them. "You smell it too, don't you Natsu?" the cat asked, pawing at his friend's trousers._

_Natsu nodded. "Yeah… I've smelt something like it before, though…" _ Lucy_, he thought. The scent reminded him of his blonde friend. "Anyways, we better follow- just in case."_

* * *

><p>"Natsu, are you ok?"<p>

The Dragon Slayer snapped out of his flashback, blinking quickly. Lucy was poking his side, trying to get him to at least loosen his tight hold on her. Realising he was bordering on squishing her to his side, he slackened his arm a little, but didn't entirely let go.

"Yo man, you ok?" Loke asked, waving his hand in front of him. Once again, Natsu resisted the urge to growl.

"Yeah, I'm good. Just thought of something…" he explained, wishing for his guild mates to drop it.

"Natsu, thought of something?" Gray snorted, disbelief written all over his features. "Yeah right, Slanty-Eyes! Thinking requires a brain, something _you_ seem to be lacking!"

"What did you say to me, popsicle?" Natsu asked, releasing Lucy and cracking his knuckles. Thinking it a good decision, Loke, Mirajane and Lucy took quite a few steps back from the quarrelling mages. This proved to be wise, as the two were at each other's throats not a moment later, once again sending the whole guild into a chaotic state.

Lucy was left in solitude when Loke and Mirajane too were pulled into the fight. Sighing, she rubbed her temple to get rid of an oncoming headache. It wasn't the fact that everyone was fighting that was causing her pain. Rather it was the fact that _Natsu_ had started it. _Twice. _It was so typically _Natsu_ that she was bordering on being more amused than annoyed.

_CRASH!_

"_Eep!"_ squealed Lucy, recoiling in shock at the sight of the _ginormous_ foot crashing down in the middle of the guild. Gulping, she looked up to the leg that the foot was connected to, then the torso, the shoulders, and finally the terrifying, horned head.

"_CUT IT OUT YOU FOOLS!"_

Lucy gaped up at the entity, feeling fear creep into her heart. "He's ginormous!"

"My… you were here this whole time, master?" Mirajane asked, mostly unscathed, with the exception of a shallow cut above her eye.

'_M-master?'_ Lucy asked herself, working herself up into a more terrified state.

Then, to her utter horror, Natsu began laughing.

"HA! You all got so scared!" He proclaimed in glee, his eyes lighting up, and his wide smile showing the world his fangs. "This match is my wi-"

The other foot of the giant had moved and squished Natsu under it, silencing him. _'Natsu!'_ called Lucy in her head, but too scared to act. What had her friend gotten himself into now?

It was then that the giant noticed Lucy. "Huh?" it asked in a gravelly voice. "A new-comer?"

"Y-yes!" stuttered Lucy, unsure about what to do next.

The giant let out a roar, and Lucy had never been more concerned for her life in that moment. She felt herself sweating bullets while the giant yelled, confused as to why the rest of the guild wasn't as scared as her. But then, she noticed that the giant was _deflating,_ getting smaller. This continued until the silhouette of the giant was less than half her size.

When the light cleared, standing in front of Lucy was a tiny figure, an old man with snow white hair and an equally white moustache, wearing an odd, double-pointed beanie. He held out his hand, grinning so wide his eyes were closed. "Nice to meet you!" he said in a jovial voice.

"He- He's tiny! Is this guy really the one in charge here?" Lucy stuttered again, and beside her, Mirajane just giggled again.

"Of course!" The white haired model explained happily. "Allow me to introduce to Fairy Tail's guild master, Makarov."

Lucy tentatively took his hand and shook it, as was proper. The old man smiled, before letting go of her hand and jumping high into the air. Unfortunately, the jump wasn't as smooth as the master had hoped it would be, and he crashed into the railings of the second floor. Righting himself, he stood atop it like nothing had happened.

"YOU'VE DONE IT AGAIN, FOOLS!" The master yelled after clearing his throat. Lucy barely noticed when Natsu got back up to stand beside her, only acknowledging his presence when he put his hand on her shoulder. "Look at all these documents I've gotten from the council!" He waved a large pile of paperwork at the guild, and the celestial mage wondered how it got there. "First," Makarov read off. "Gray."

"Huh?" the teen in underwear asked intelligently, when he heard his name mentioned.

"Good job sweeping up that smuggling organization, but you walked around town naked afterwards, and ran away after stealing underwear that was being dried!"

'_Ew…'_ thought Lucy, scrunching up her face.

"But wouldn't it be worse if I were naked?" argued Gray with gritted teeth.

Elfman looked at him in annoyance. "Then don't be naked in the first place!" he rebuked, but the teen ignored him.

Makarov let out a breath before reading out the next offence. "Elfman! You had an escorting mission, but you assaulted the VIP you were supposed to be protecting!"

"But he said that all men were about education!" complained the brute, looking like a kicked puppy. Lucy felt her eyebrow twitch. It would seem that people in this guild were _insane_, putting it lightly.

The master shook his head. "Cana Alberona, drinking multiple barrels of alcohol, and then charging it to the council!" Mentioned mage sweat-dropped, though Lucy had to admire her bravery at doing something like that. "Loke, flirting with council member elder Reiji's granddaughter! And a certain talent agency charged us for damage compensation, too."

'_I sort of expected that one,_' said Lucy silently to herself, allowing herself a small grin. After all she had heard about the mage via the magazine, or just plain gossip, he seemed the type to do something like that.

"And Natsu…" Master Makarov literally flopped down on himself in exasperation. "You destroyed the Devon thief family, _but you also destroyed seven other houses that belonged to townspeople!_ _Burning down_ a church in Freesia… _Damaging parts_ of Lupinus castle… Nazuna Ravine observatory _collapsed and thus stopped its observations…_ Destroying half of Hargeon Port town…" The one who committed those acts just stood there, bored. Yes, he did those things, but he didn't understand why they were mad! He stopped the bad guys for them, so they should quit complaining.

His blonde friend gazed at him thoughtfully. '_So most of the articles in the magazine _were_ about Natsu, after all… he sure does seem to go overboard a lot. Nothing has changed, there.'_

"Alzack. Levy. Kulov. Reedus. Warren. Bisca. Et cetera…" The owners of the names looked down in shame when their names were read off the long list, even those included in the 'et cetera'. "Guys… the members of the council are always angry at me." Lucy felt herself begin to sweat again, fearing being reprimanded with the rest.

"But…"

The entire guild looked up at this, to see a hint of a smile poking out underneath Makarov's moustache.

The papers in the old man's hand suddenly became surrounded by flame. "Forget the council." He threw the burning papers into the air, Natsu jumping up to catch them in his mouth like a dog, returning to Lucy's side. She could hear him munching on the flames –if that was even possible- and looked at him with an odd expression.

"Eh?" she mumbled, in regards to the guild master's statement.

"Listen up. The power to overcome reasoning is _born_ from reasoning. Magic is not a miracle. When the 'spirit' flow within us and the 'spirit' flow in nature connects, they will form an embodiment for the first time. You will need a strong mentality and a lot of concentration for that. I mean, pouring your soul into whatever you do _is_ the magic. If you keep worrying about the watchful eyes of the higher-ups, your magic won't improve! Do not fear the fools of the council," Makarov paused in his speech, allowing a wide grin to cover his face. "_Do whatever you think is right! That's the way of ALL Fairy Tail mages!" _

The entire guild cheered, and Lucy couldn't help but cheer with them. The speech was inspiring, even if it was suggesting to do something akin to treason. The master was right- about everything he said. '_This guild…_' Lucy thought, taking in the atmosphere of camaraderie and happiness. _'There's just something so special about it, and its master. I can't wait to be a part of- of _this._'_

'But Lucy…' a voice that reminded her of Natsu's said in her head. 'You were a member as soon as you walked through those doors.'

* * *

><p><strong>So...<strong> _Have you noticed I always start these with 'so'? Er, nevermind. A bit of a short chapter, but you've also got hints of NaLu! Yay! No, they will not get together just yet (Natsu is too clueless for that), but maybe later on..._

_Anways, I just got an idea for a filler-arc, for later on. I can tell you now- it's gonna be HILARIOUS. _

_I think that's it for now...  
>Adios!<br>**GreentreeFrog.**_


	9. Dragons, Monkeys, and NewlyWed Couples

_**One** would think that updating now is slightly insane... considering its almost midnight, and I've got two exams tomorrow... Well, its a good thing that I'm more than slightly insane! _

_Life has been a bit hectic, guys, and that's why I haven't updated for a month *hides head in shame* This chapter... ick. I don't even know why I'm exposing you to this crap! Seriously, some of my worst work. Ever. This chapter was impossible to write... _

_From now on, though, you won't have to worry about me not updating- I should be back to my normal schedule on thursday (yay!). Thursday... when all exams are FINALLY over... if this is just senior school, I'd hate to see what Uni is like. _

_I've kept you waiting long enough... onto.. the... chapter (erm, yeah, still don't know why I'm exposing you to my unedited work. If anyone's interested in being my beta, I'll gladly accept)._

* * *

><p>The stamp made a popping sound when it was lifted from her hand, and Lucy held it up to the light so she could see her mark better. She had chosen pink over blue, for reasons she herself couldn't understand.<p>

"There you go!" Mirajane chirped. "You are now an official member of Fairy Tail!"

Lucy squealed, running up to where Natsu was feasting on flaming food at the guild's bar. "Natsu, Natsu, look! I'm now an official member of Fairy Tail!" she yelled, practically shoving her hand in his face. Natsu paused his eating enough to stand up and wrap her in a big hug.

"That's great, Luce! We'll have to go on a job together!" He took her hand, dragging her to the request board.

"Wait- you mean _now?_" she asked, following with minimum hesitation.

"Of course!" He stopped in front of the board, eyes scanning through the many quests and opportunities available to them.

Happy wondered up to him, craning his neck to look at the flyers. "Don't forget to choose one with a big reward, Natsu!"

The door to the guild opened, letting in a gust of cool air. A little boy ran in, straight up to the counter where Master Makarov was sitting. Lucy watched him- as far as she knew, no one other than guild members, or those who came to place requests entered the guild hall, and this little boy seemed too young for both. Natsu ignored him for the most part, picking out a request whose objective was to take out a bunch of thieves.

"When's my daddy coming back?" the little boy asked, and Lucy noticed Master Makarov let out a sigh of annoyance.

"You're annoying, Romeo," Makarov grumped, a little unfairly in Lucy's opinion. Beside her, she felt Natsu tense, clutching the request a little tightly. She put a hand on his arm to comfort him, and she felt him relax, if only a little. "If you're the son of a mage, have trust in your father, go home, and wait for him."

"He said he'd be home in three days!" whilst he said this, the boy's eyes filled with tears. Lucy had the urge to go over to him and hug him, until all of his tears were gone. "But… but it's been a week since then!"

"Macao's job is up at Mt Hakobe, isn't it?" the master asked, his tone gruff. By now, the confrontation had both Lucy's and Natsu's full attention. The blonde gripped her childhood friend's arm tightly, hugging it to herself.

"IT'S NOT THAT FAR EITHER!" Lucy let go of Natsu's arm, making up her mind to go over to the boy and hold him. She didn't get very far, however, as Natsu had grabbed her shoulder, shaking his head at her. _Wait_, was what he said silently, yet Lucy understood.

"PLEASE LOOK FOR HIM! I'M WORRIED ABOUT HIM!"

"_No way!_" Makarov said sternly, chastising the boy with his voice. "We have no mages here that can't look after his or herself. Go home and drink your milk or something."

_That was harsh,_ Lucy thought.

Unbeknownst to her, however, the master shot a quick look to Natsu, making sure the dragon-slayer got the message. Said dragon-slayer nodded slowly.

"_IDIOT!"_ the kid screamed, punching Makarov in the face and quickly running out.

Beside Lucy, Natsu turned back around, slamming the request he picked out back onto the board, making both Lucy and Happy, who was silently watching the exchange, jump in surprise. Ignoring Nab's protests about almost breaking the board, Natsu stormed out after the boy, leaving Happy and Lucy staring after him. The cat and the girl exchanged a glance, before rushing after Natsu.

_I think… Natsu sees himself in that boy,_ Lucy concluded, trying to think of the reason why Natsu would act like he did. _Igneel had left Natsu when he was younger, leaving him without a father. That boy just now feels scared that he'll lose his father too… Natsu… just how much have you changed?_

Following Natsu, Happy and Lucy passed the little boy in the street, and Lucy resisted the chance to hug him. Instead, she grabbed Happy, who _pretended_ to be annoyed, and hugged him like she would a stuffed toy.

"Ick- Lushy! Can't… breathe!" the cat screamed, pawing at her chest so the mage would let go a little.

"Oh, right. S-sorry, Happy," Lucy huffed between steps. _Man, I'm really out of shape if I'm already huffing like this. I know what I'm doing once we get back from this little mountain trip… _

Finally, they caught up to Natsu, who was staring at carriage with fear in his eyes. Happy snorted quietly in Lucy's arms, though he was sorry for his friend/father. Lucy looked at the carriage in amusement, hopping in, dragging Natsu with her. She plopped Happy on a seat, before forcing Natsu to sit on the bench opposite the blue cat. After instructions from Lucy, the driver began the journey to Mt Hakobe, the carriage moving forward at a steady pace. It wasn't long before Natsu's face turned green, and he had lost all strength to sit up properly. His stomach was churning, and he felt _yuck. _

_At least this hasn't changed,_ thought Lucy in amusement. It was quite funny that the powerful Salamander had a weakness like _this. _

Eventually, though, Lucy got tired of all of Natsu's moaning and groaning. "Oh come here you big baby!" she exclaimed, and hauled the dragon slayer across to hers and Happy's bench. She laid his head in her lap, and arranged the rest of his body so that the dragon slayer would be relatively comfortable. Lucy stroked his warm hair, the messy strands surprisingly soft. Natsu's body relaxed, and some of the green left his face.

Eventually, Natsu worked up the strength to say something. "Why… did you come… Luce?" As he talked, Natsu felt another wave of nausea crawl up his throat, threatening to make him vomit. Instead of upheaving his lunch all over Lucy (who would not be very pleased if he did), he focussed on her scent. Concentrating hard on the woman who had his head in her lap, he inhaled her scent. The sweet, yet tangy mixture of vanilla and ash assaulted his nose, the smell, while strange at first, was surprisingly good. It wasn't much different to when she was a child, perhaps the smell of ash was a bit more overwhelming than it was back then. Natsu could feel the churning feeling in his stomach relax, and while he still felt nauseous, it wasn't something he couldn't handle.

"W-why did you… come?" the dragon-slayer asked eventually, when the sick feeling had resided enough so he could talk. He didn't notice Happy staring at him in surprise, nor did he notice the way the blue cat's gaze shifted between himself and Lucy.

The celestial mage continued running her fingers through the soft pink hair, trying to come up with an answer for her impulsive action. "Well… I had just got you back," Lucy finally answered, "I promised myself when I finally found you again, I wouldn't leave your side."

Natsu's eyes snapped open, making eye-contact with the furiously blushing Lucy. It was like those words were breath into a balloon, something inside the dragon slayer's heart swelled up. It was a feeling he got only when he was around his closest friends. He reached up and grabbed the hand that was snaking through his hair, entwining his fingers around Lucy.

"Luce…"

Suddenly, the carriage jerked to a stop, and the effects of transportation immediately wore off Natsu. Jumping out of Lucy's lap, he made a big deal about being 'revived', and opened the doors, jumping out of the carriage and onto the freezing snow.

Lucy followed him, shivering immediately. Happy flew up next to Natsu, keeping himself warm with the heat that naturally came from Natsu's body. The celestial mage groaned, lighting fires around her hands and spreading the flames over her arms. The wind, though, was too strong, and put out the fire almost as soon as it was lit. Huffing, Lucy tugged on the blanket that was strapped to Natsu's pack, but the stupid thing wouldn't budge.

"Natsu? Blanket? P-p-please?" Lucy whimpered, her teeth chattering towards the end. Taking sympathy on her, Natsu reached behind him and tugged the blanket from the pack, warming it with his hands before draping it over Lucy, who nodded her thanks.

"Stick close, ok Luce? We don't know what's out there," advised Natsu.

"Yeah," Lucy agreed, picking out one of her keys and brandishing it in the air. "Open! Gate of the clock constellation: Horologium!"

A bright light briefly blinded the trio, and when it cleared, a large pendulum clock stood in between Lucy and the dragon slayer. The clock's face was actually a face, and it stood on two legs, two arms resting by its side. The glass in front of the pendulum opened, and Lucy quickly hopped inside the clock's body, closing the glass door behind her.

"It's a clock!" Happy finally exclaimed getting over his shock.

Natsu nodded. "Hey, Horologium! It's been a while!"

"Greetings, Dragon Slayer. Indeed it has been a while," the clock responded. Inside him, Lucy's mouth worked furiously, trying to convey a message.

"What was that, Luce? We can't hear you," there was a teasing note in the dragon slayer's voice, and Lucy's mouth moved faster and faster, trying to convey her annoyance.

"_Just shut up and let's get moving! We've got to find this Macao guy before my but freezes off! _She says."

Natsu snorted and started heading further up the mountain. "Ok, ok, we're going, I say!" he retorted, with Happy chuckling behind him. "You can be such a wuss, Luce. I mean, it's not even that co- what is _that_?"

A shadow was quickly descending upon the rag-tag group, shaking the ground as it landed, making Natsu fly off the edge of the cliff. Lucy stared out of Horologium's clear body worriedly at the large monster, concern for her friend creeping up at her heart. She knew that a simple fall off a cliff wouldn't hurt him- after all, how many times had she seen him jump off Igneel's back from unimaginable heights when they were younger? Too many to count. He also had Happy flying after him- she needn't mention the cat's wings would be useful to her Dragon Slayer friend. But even after reassuring herself of all of this, Lucy still felt worried.

The monster leered at Lucy, who was still worrying over her friend too much to notice. It was only when the monster actually picked up the clock that housed the girl did she finally realise what was going on.

The only thing that could be heard over the wind of the mountains as the monster ran back off to its cave, was a smooth, male voice, speaking his passenger's screams of protest

* * *

><p>'<em>I'm <em>so_ glad that I've got Horologium to shield me from this purvy monkey.'_

As if the fates heard her thought, a timer within the clock constellation beeped, and Horologium was gone in a bright puff of smoke. Lucy blinked, disorientated for a second, before falling to the ground and landing in a heap.

"Oof!" she yelped, untangling herself from the red blanket.

"Pweety woman!"

"_Ooooooh_ fudge," muttered the female wizard, standing up and hovering her hand over keys, ready to summon one at any second. The overgrown monkey stared at her with hearts in its eyes, or more correctly, stared at her _chest._ She brought the blanket she was still holding in front of her, shielding her _assets_ from the hormonal primate.

"_Olè?" _Lucy asked, flapping the blanket around a little.

The monkey charged, and Lucy yelped, scrambling out of its line of trajectory. Huffing, she chucked the blanket to the side, creating a fire around both of her hands. She fed the sparks magic, until flames licked at her elbows, hot but comforting at the same time. The monkey righted itself (as it had previously run into a wall when it missed Lucy), and stared at the girl through narrowed eyes. Lucy beckoned the thing forward with one flaming hand, her stance radiating a confidence she didn't have.

'_Natsu, get up here, already! I can't face this thing alone!'_

The monster-ape ran at the girl for a second time and Lucy brought her fiery fists up to shield her face. Scrunching her eyes closed, the girl waited for impact.

It never came.

After a couple of seconds, the girl opened her eyes, warily looking around for the monkey. She found it… in a heap against the far wall, a lump on its head literally smoking.

"Um… what just happened?" Lucy asked herself, looking around the cave. Something knocked into her from behind, making her stumble forward. Warm arms wrapped around her as something burrowed into her neck from behind. "Eep!"

"Luce…" Natsu's musky voice sounded from her neck, and Lucy relaxed, reaching behind to stroke his hair.

"Natsu, what happened? Did you save me? Are you alright? What happened to _you?"_ Lucy fired off (no pun intended), completely confused.

Natsu chuckled, releasing her from his hold. "One question at a time! But more importantly…" he trailed off, a furrow in his brow. From behind him, Happy flew into sight, sniggering a little.

"Yeah?" Lucy asked expectantly.

The dragon slayer gestured to her hands still covered in fire. "Are you going to put those out? Or will I have to do it again?" Lucy blushed, when she remembered the first time her had 'put out' the fire. It was the first time she had summoned a flame- how could she forget?

Cutting off the magic that was feeding the fire, the flames diminished until there was nothing left.

Happy ceased his giggling, flying over to Lucy and hugging her around the neck. The blonde grabbed him and cradled him in her arms, hugging him gently. Lucy then looked at Natsu, who was staring at the two with a weird expression on his face. If she was anything like Happy, she would have commented on it, and then do a completely inaccurate imitation of it. However, she was not like the blue cat in that way, and therefore did not say anything.

"Natsu… can you tell me what happened now?" pleaded Lucy, her fingers absently petting Happy's little, blue ears.

The pinkette nodded. "After that monkey thing sent me flying off the cliff, Happy came after me, and then we followed your scent to here. We saw the monster coming at you, so I did the first attack that came to mind- my wing attack- oh man! That's what I forgot!"

Startling Lucy, Natsu ran right passed her, to where the monkey still lay with a smoking bump on its head. Igniting one of his hands, he brought it down _hard_ on the monkey's head.

Almost as soon as his fist connected with the noggin, a grid covered the monster's fur, glowing brightly and then diminishing, leaving a rugged, dark-haired, middle-aged man in its wake.

"Macao!" Happy shouted happily, flying out of Lucy's grasp to stand next to the man. "The monster must have been a Vulcan!"

"A _what?"_

"A Vulcan," repeated Natsu. "It's a creature that uses take-over magic to inhabit another creature's body. This one must have defeated Macao and taken him over."

"_What?_" The man rasped, blearily opening his eyes. He looked around, disorientated for a moment, spotting Natsu. "Natsu? What happened?"

"You were taken over by a Vulcan!" answered Happy, as his companion was busy patching up Macao's head with bandages.

"Oh…. I think I remember now. I took out nineteen of those things… the twentieth, thought… that one snuck up behind me, defeating me. I'm such a disgrace…" moaned the man, closing his eyes in shame.

'_Disgrace?'_ thought Lucy, shaking her head, _'he took out NINETEEN of those things! I couldn't even get _one!_'_

"Whatever," Natsu said, slinging one of Macao's arms over his shoulder and helping the injured man stand up. "Let's head home. Romeo's waiting for you, man."

And so the group set off down the mountain, eagerly awaiting the moment they once again stepped foot in the _warmer_ Magnolia.

* * *

><p>A little boy sat on the steps of a building, not bothering to wipe the tears falling from his eyes. He missed his daddy, one of the only people he could depend on. The boys from around the neighbourhood had made fun of him because of his father, and it was because of that, his daddy was now gone. The kid blamed himself- if he hadn't gone crying to his father that day, he would have never taken a job, or go off to Mt Hakobe.<p>

Suddenly, a large shadow blocked Romeo's vision, and the boy looked up to glare at what was causing it. Those plans, however, were abandoned when he saw exactly who was casting the shadow.

"Papa!" he yelled, flinging his arms around the injured man, not noticing Macao's wince.

Lucy, Natsu and Happy turned away from the touching scene, a moment for only father and son. In his heart, Natsu wished that it was him, hugging his own father who had returned to him.

Lucy, somehow sensing her friend's thoughts, grabbed his hand and started leading him away from the sight, Happy following quietly. Squeezing Lucy's hand in gratitude, Natsu walked with Lucy and Happy back in the direction of the guild hall.

"Natsu-nii! Happy! Thanks!"

Without turning around, Natsu put up his free hand, waving back at the boy.

"And Lucy-nee! Thank you for bringing my daddy back to me!"

Lucy turned her head to grin at the boy, waving just like Natsu.

'_Fairy Tail is a reckless and outrageous guild,' _Lucy thought, turning back around to keep walking alongside Natsu and the cat, _'But…'_ She looked at her pink-haired friend, who had a relaxed grin on his face, despite what they had just done, '_I really think I'll enjoy it here.'_

* * *

><p>"No, Natsu."<p>

"Naw? Why not?"

"I SAID NO!"

_CLUNK!_

"Ow Luce! Why'd you throw that chair at my head?"

Happy nibbled on his fish happily (no pun intended), turning his head back and forth like he was watching a tennis match. He winced when the chair collided with Natsu's head, all the while thinking the blonde was being entirely unreasonable.

"I threw it because you're not listening to me! The answer's still NO!"

The cat finished his fish, throwing the bones somewhere behind him. Sighing, he stood up and walked over to where the two were quarrelling, ducking and dodging the various household objects Lucy was throwing at Natsu.

"C'mon Lucy, why're you making such a fuss? If you stay with me, you won't have to pay for rent, or anything like that!"

"_Because_, Natsu," the way Lucy said his name made the dragon-slayer shiver, and not in a good way. "Despite your place seeming… decent, I'd prefer having my own apartment. Besides, it'll just give us another place to hang out! And you can visit me whenever you want." Lucy winced after saying that last part, regretting her words immensely. "So you can now either come with me to the real estate agent, or you can stay here and mope."

"Lushy, can I visit you too whenever I want if you get your own apartment?" Happy asked speaking up for the first time since the argument started.

Lucy looked down at the cat, internally wincing as she spoke. "Eh? Sure Happy."

Natsu was still pouting as they walked out of the guild hall, following Happy and Lucy as they lead him to the real estate agent. The two were bantering back and forth- Happy was teasing Lucy (albeit, gently) and Lucy in turn was poking the cat in the tummy every time he teased her. This arrangement worked surprisingly well for the two, as they were having a great time getting to know each other, despite their method being a bit… unusual.

The two were so wrapped up in their joking, that they'd completely passed their destination without realising. Natsu, realising that Lucy would probably beat him up later if he didn't point it out now, called out to the two, pointing to the real estate building.

"Erm, isn't that where we're supposed to go?"

Lucy paused, looking at where he was pointing. "Yeah! Thanks, Natsu!" She grabbed the dragon slayer's hand, not noticing his blush, and dragged him towards the building.

A bell dinged when they entered, though to Natsu, it sounded like the death bells. They entered a fancy-looking reception area, where a middle-aged woman with glasses was doing some paperwork at her large desk. Lucy walked right up to the desk, still holding Natsu's hand, and waited patiently for the woman to address her.

"Why hello, welcome to Magnolia Real-Estate! How can I help you, today?" her voice was high-pitched, and way too bubbly for a normal person's. The dragon slayer winced.

"I'm looking to buy an apartment, I was wondering if you know of any available close to the Fairy Tail guild hall?" Lucy asked politely, smiling a charming smile.

The woman put a hand to her chest. "Oh my, aren't you two the cutest couple! Oh how I do love newly-weds! Let me gather up some papers, and I'll see if I can get you a good deal!"

Natsu's eyes were the size of dinner plates, and he was about to say something, too, but Lucy gave him her patented 'glare of doom'. Why couldn't he explain to this woman that he and Lucy weren't a couple? The girl in question didn't seem to mind. In fact she was… happy? Uh, speaking of Happy, that annoying blue cat had a paw over his mouth, trying to stop himself from laughing his head off. Natsu shot him one of his own 'glares of doom', but it didn't seem to do anything. In fact, it probably made the cat laugh even harder.

Sulking again, the dragon-slayer pouted while his best friend went through pictures of various apartments available for rent. He ignored the woman every time she said something about 'a good place to raise children', or 'a wonderful place for a couple such as yourselves'! He had to admit though, he felt something within him stir when the woman mentioned such things. This put Natsu in an even worse mood- this woman was saying things that made his stomach go funny. He hated being sick!

"This one!" screamed Lucy, planting her long finger onto a picture of an apartment, set on the edge of the river.

"Are you sure, dear? It's not the largest. And you'd certainly need to move out if you ever have children," the real-estate agent cautioned, wanting what was best for her beautiful client. Yet Lucy nodded, like Natsu ignoring the jab about children, and the fluttery feeling that came with it.

"I'm sure. Can you take us there?" asked Lucy, and the woman nodded, picking up a set of keys from the drawer.

"Of course, just follow me to the carriage!"

The group wandered out to where a small carriage was parked out in front of the real estate building. The agent hopped in first, followed by Happy, and then Lucy and Natsu. The two were forced up against each other on the one bench, their sides practically becoming one because of how small the carriage was. Both blushed, noticing the Real Estate Agent's grin, looking everywhere but each other's eyes.

"You luuuuuurve each other!" Happy crowed when the carriage started moving, and for the second time in forty-eight hours, Natsu found his head in Lucy's lap.

Lucy stroked his hair the same way she did the day before, which seemed to help with Natsu's motion sickness. Really, Lucy just wished there was a cure… little did she know that her very scent was one.

When the carriage came to a stop in front of a small apartment complex, Lucy helped Natsu sit up and get off the vehicle (something the dragon slayer was happy to do). The two and Happy followed the real estate agent inside the building, where they were greeted by a stern-looking land-lady, only twice the size of Happy. They were then shown to the upstairs apartment, and Lucy could've sworn she had stars in her eyes in that moment.

"This is it!"

"Luce?" Natsu asked, not noticing how his hand was _still_ in hers.

"This is it, Natsu! This _our home!"_

* * *

><p><em><strong>So<strong> I'm determined start all of these end notes with 'so'. A bit of NaLu fluff in this chapter. Ok, a LOT. I couldn't resist. By the way, I was serious about the request for a beta reader. If you're interested, please PM me!  
><em>

_Natsu and Lucy... *chuckles* boy, do I have plans for them! Can I just say, these two will get together a lot sooner than most of you would think! And yes, I can't wait to write Phantom Lord Arc... that, Tenroujima, the Grand Magical Games and Edolas... There are certainly things I'll be changing in ALL of those.  
><em>

_Now, I need a rant ***Spoilers for Manga*** can I just say how epically awesome both Cana and Erza were? I mean, completely finishing pandemonium in one go, completely winning it for Fairy Tail Team A, and then Cana using Fairy Glitter to get second place for Fairy Tail team B! Mavis is such a cutie... "I leant her fairy glitter! Anything to win!"  
>I was sort of disappointed with Lucy though. I mean, she had the PERFECT opportunity to own all 12 keys! But she didn't take Pisces and Libra. I can understand why, but still... <em>

_RANT OVER!  
>See ya'll thursday, for the combined Daybreak-Lullaby Arc!<br>**Greentree Frog**_


	10. People change

**OH MY GAWD I AM SO FREAKING SORRY! How many months has it been now? Six? Wow... I really do apologize guys, life just got in the way. It's not nearly as fun as it was when I was a kid, but I digress...**

**so I was going through my computer (which is dying), clearing out all the stuff and moving it all onto hard-drives when I found this lovely little thing and it reminded me of all you guys who had once read this 15-year-olds whim on steroids. You'll have to forgive the shortness of the chapter, because while I once upon a time had the rest of it written, it sadly isn't there anymore, so instead of making y'all wait another month for the completed thing, i decided to give you a teaser! *hides behind iPad***

**A moment of silence, please, for my trusty netbook... **

**OK! Also, I got something to tell you all... I've been working on this fanfic which has been sitting in a book of mine for a while now, and I recently re-discovered it! I'm proud to say that the first chapter is published! It's on my profile- my second NaLu story, a bit different to this one, but if you enjoy this, you'll definitely enjoy "Puzzle Pieces". Natsu in that is just HAWT... You'll love him ;)**

**anyway, enjoy this brief teaser!**

* * *

><p>Time passed quickly after Lucy joined Fairy Tail. It was a great feeling, being reunited with her best friend after so many years, to find out that nothing had really changed at all. Even waking up in each other's arms just like when they were kids was something that seemed to have stayed the same.<p>

The guild itself was something Lucy was totally not prepared for, but even then she had to love all the members like family. It seemed only right, that a guild that could put up with Natsu for an extended period of time would be just as crazy as the fire breather himself. Lucy found herself fitting in quite nicely after the initial shock that Natsu's 'imaginary' friend really existed. She had been through quite a bit in her short life so it was a comfort to her that people like this could be this welcoming.

The best things about Fairy Tail though, in Lucy's opinion, were the relationships she had formed with some of its guild members- friendship for life. One of her first friends within the guild (aside from Natsu) had been the ice-mage Gray. Sure, his habit of stripping put her out for a bit, but after going through the whole Lullaby incident and adventuring on Galuna island together, it was almost impossible not to become close.

Another person Lucy considered a close friend was the formidable Erza Scarlet. Her boys (as Lucy now fondly refers Gray and Natsu to) had not given her the best impression of Erza before she had met her. They told tales of a scary, demon-like warrior who had no qualms about kicking down a mountain or seven. But when the two were introduced, it was safe to say the two girls had gotten along like a house on fire. Lucy had managed to temper the Titania's habit of scaring everyone she met, softening her around the edges. Erza was still a scary woman ninety-nine per cent of the time, but the Celestial mage had made her more approachable to all those around her.

Happy…. Well that was a relationship Lucy was easily confused by. One moment they could be going at each other's throats, and the next you would see them both plotting together, grinning evilly. Sometimes they would act like siblings, riling each other up for the sake of it. But there were times when the two likened themselves more like mother and child. Those moments were rare in-between; seen only by Natsu, and maybe Erza and Gray should they slip around unnoticed. True, the mother-child relationship could be more like a naughty son doing whatever he could to make his mother go grey, but then again, there were times when Natsu would drop by Lucy's apartment to find the blonde softly stroking the cat's fur with a small smile on her face.

At that moment, the cat was circling around Lucy's head whilst holding her keys, jingling them high enough to keep them out of her reach. The blonde swiped up at the little menace, but Happy just flew higher into the rafters. If she desperately wanted her keys back, Lucy could have just used her whip to snag back the ring, but the truth was… she was bored. And so was the rest of her team. 'Fairy Tale's Strongest Team' had been confined to the guild until further notice, forbidden from going out on missions as punishment for the little Galuna Island stunt. Not that the team were sorry about it, no, they were quite pleased with what they had accomplished, but they just weren't prepared for the consequences…

Natsu leaned back in his chair as he watched his best friends go at each other, the show while amusing was not enough to stop his growing boredom. Out of the corner of his eye he spied Loki picking a job off the board and reading it. Shrugging, the fire mage hopped out of his chair to go read over his nakama's shoulder. The red-head acknowledged his presence with a grin as he read over the notice, moving the paper so Natsu could see clearer.

"Unom ey hestium… What the hell is this crap?" exclaimed Natsu as he read the paper filled with gibberish.

Loki's eyes flashed with a sort of recognition behind his glasses, his odd starlight scent flaring slightly. "It's a spell. I don't know what it's doing on the request board though," he answered, looking over the paper.

"Trytiance ium contain," Natsu continued to mutter, reading off the paper, ignoring his team members who were coming to gather around him.

"Natsu- I wouldn't do that. Who knows what this spell doe-" Loki was cut off by a flash of light, blinding the six gathered guild members.

From a table a short distance away from the lightshow, Macao drunkenly admitted to Wakaba that he thought it looked like the five humans plus one cat were sweating rainbows.

The light faded and the group was left rapidly blinking to regain their sight.

"Why doesn't anyone listen to me?" moaned Natsu.

"Shut up! That wasn't a spell! That was just some schmancy light show!" crowed Loki, disappointed that the spell didn't do something exciting like summon monsters from another world.

Happy strutted over with his hands on his little hips. "I sincerely doubt that, Natsu. We mightn't know the effects of the spell until later on." Erza nodded happily beside him, giggling a little.

"M-m-maybe we should ch-ch-check w-w-with m-master first t-to ssssee what h-h-he thinks of th-the spell," chattered Gray, raising his hands to try and warm his mostly uncovered body. Lucy scowled at everyone in the room, tugging at the hem of her shirt as if the article of clothing was annoying her.

It took the group a moment to realise the guild was abnormally silent.

A second passed.

And then another.

Until-

"OH MY GOD!"

"YOU STOLE MY BODY!"

* * *

><p><strong>*le evil grin<strong>

**I just loved this episode in the anime, it had to be one of my favorite, so I couldn't help writing my own version. I had actually already planned to write a oneshot AU of this, but when I was going through, I just decided to combine them!**

**And yes, no Lullaby or Galuna. I think those two were good enough as it is without my meddling. But don't fret, I'm still doing Phantomlord ;)**

**Don't forget to check out my new NaLu fic, Puzzle Pieces!**

**see you on Friday!**

**-GreentreeFrog**


	11. as time passes

**_Surprise!_**_ I'm, er, just going to leave this here. Lengthier AN down the bottom if you're really that interested. _

* * *

><p><em>Last time...<em>

_"OH MY GOD!"_

_"YOU STOLE MY BODY!"_

* * *

><p>"Everybody just calm down!" Happy, or rather, Erza in Happy's body commanded.<p>

"C-calm down?" cried Lucy in Gray's body, "I-I c-can't when I know th-there's a s-s-strip-per in m-my b-body!"

Gray, in Lucy's body, at that point had been ready to pull his/her shirt off, but seeing the deadly glare on his own face thought better of it.

"You're so hot Lucy!" he yelled, but immediately regretted his choice of words.

"Why you..." muttered Gray's body before it pounced on him. Hands pulled and tugged on hair and Lucy's body found itself pinned under Gray's in a very compromising position.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Gray cried, trying to wiggle his way out, but finding it harder in the different body. It was a surreal experience, having his own face glare at him like that... "I meant you're almost as warm as Natsu! Like you eat hot coals for breakfast or something."

"No excuse!"

"Er, Gr- I mean Lucy? You do realize that's your own body you're beating up, right?" Happy in Erza's body called, giggling in such a way that no one watching would ever be able to look at Erza the same again.

Lucy ignored him, freezing Gray's hands in place when he once again reached for his/her shirt. The two then proceeded to roll around on the ground, trying to best the other, the whole time Gray was complaining about the unfairness of Lucy being able to use his magic, yet he wasn't able to figure out her own.

Erza turned to look at Natsu, to see what he thought of all of this. She had on many occasions seen how protective the Dragon Slayer was over his childhood friend, and had at one point been glad she hadn't been trapped under his fiery glare. Anyone who dared to mess with Lucy while Natsu was around always left the vicinity with more burns and scorch marks than considered healthy.

Yet, when Erza's (read, Happy's) eyes found Loki's body, she was shocked to see that he wasn't even paying attention.

The mage was slouched in one of the nearby stools with his head in his hands. By his side, Natsu's body was giving him a worried look, occasionally muttering things too low for Erza to hear. It may have been a trick of the light, but Erza could have sworn that for a second, the shades-wearing wizard had become slightly transparent.

"Natsu, are you ok?" asked Erza, concern for her friend heavy in Happy's voice.

Gray and Lucy paused in their wrestling match to look up at their friend. They too noticed how sickly the ginger suddenly looked. Happy frowned, attempting to fly over to nestle in Loki's body's hair, but that plan was quickly nixed when Erza's body fell like a stone to the floor. Lucy would have laughed if she weren't so concerned for her friend.

Loki's body shook, unable to find the strength to sit up properly to face its friends. Inside, Natsu was feeling terrible. It was the worst he had ever felt, and that included when he had contracted Dragon-pox when he was seven. He felt like throwing up, but it seemed there was nothing in his stomach to begin with. He also felt light-headed and dizzy- so much so, that Natsu could barely form a coherent thought. Beside him, Natsu's body muttered curses, apologizing over and over again.

"You- You're sick, aren't you?" muttered Natsu, his eyes blearily focussing on his own body. Seeing his body standing there was so surreal, but he couldn't appreciate the thought. Not feeling the way he was.

Loki gulped, nodding. "Yeah, came down with a cold a couple of days ago. Sorry, bud."

Natsu frowned.

"This isn't a cold. You've been like this for ages, I can tell. You wouldn't have been able to hide it from us if you weren't used to it," said the fire mage.

"What are you saying?" asked Lucy, Gray's body running over to stand beside the slouched-over form. She glared at Loki accusingly.

"D-don't Luce. It's not his fault. I'm actually sort of getting used to it now," said Natsu. He sat up a little straighter, doing his best to try and grin at his best friend, which was hard, considering said best friend currently resided in his enemy's body.

While Lucy fussed over her best friend, Loki was having an internal meltdown. He was immortal, damn it! After millennia of practicing magic and gaining knowledge about its intricacies, he should have been able to recognize the spell the idiot was casting and put a stop to it before it had the chance to do any real damage. Now, because of his lack of observation skills, Natsu looked as if he were about to fade from existence, and it was all Loki's fault. He hadn't realized that the effects of his..._exile_ would remain with his body.

Which, in retrospect, made absolute sense. Loki's body wasn't born from the conventional sense, nor was it corporeal when in its natural state. The form he inhabited whilst on the mortal plane was created from pure magic and sustained only through willpower and constant effort. His tie to his celestial body, the constellation Leo, was really all that kept him going nowadays. Even that was getting dimmer each night.

Should he tell the others of his situation, though? It wasn't like they could remedy this particular 'ailment'. Lucy could probably get him closer to the spirit world than any other, but he knew she lacked the power to summon the King. It wasn't like he had anything to lose, certainly if he wasn't able to hold out for much longer. Besides, it wasn't only his life at stake now: it was Natsu's as well. One of the first true friends he had made at this amazing guild.

"You're right, Natsu," relented Loki, acting as if a giant weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "I've been like this for a while. A long time, actually. Not many would have lived as long as I have."

It seemed to shock those gathered that he had freely admitted this. Perhaps they thought he would put up more of a fight?

"Why didn't you tell anyone? Maybe if you told Master, he could have taken you to Porlyusica and found a cure by now!" squeaked Erza.

Loki huffed a defeated sigh. It was strange for Lucy, Gray, Happy and Erza to see the salamander's body and face seem so despondent. Natsu always exuded an aura of confidence and bravery that walked the very thin line between courage and extreme stupidity. It was obvious to everyone that he was uncomfortable revealing his weakness so openly. Loki was a known womanizer, and easily one of the most charismatic members of the guild. Any who worked with him on a job would quickly claim he was a natural leader, as well as a good listener. He had the potential to be as destructive as any other member of the guild, but when it came down to the money (and the debt he owed Cana thanks to their constant gambling), he limited his collateral damage to a minimum.

All-in-all, it was almost unheard of to see this side of the mage (especially while wearing Natsu's face).

"Trust me," said Loki, "there's no cure for this."

"But-" started Happy, his perpetual optimism shining through on Erza's face before he was interrupted.

"Leave it alone, Happy," said Loki.

_SLAP!_

Loki felt Natsu's head whip suddenly to the side, propelled by the force of the slap. Gray's hand had felt colder than normal upon touching his face, which could have been explained by who's body he was inhabiting. He didn't think too hard about it, however, as he was reeling from the shock of being slapped. _Lucy_ had slapped him.

Sure, the celestial mage could hold her own in the violent guild, but she rarely raised her hand with such force towards another guild member without good reason. Raising his eyes and cricking his neck, Loki realized he wasn't the only one shocked by this act of agression. Erza's face looked nervous, while the woman herself managed to contort Happy's face into an appropriately surprised expression. Gray had stopped fiddling with Lucy's clothes, while Loki's own face looked at him with a mixed expression of pity and annoyance (the latter, Loki supposed, was due to the fact that it was Natsu's body Lucy had harmed).

"You _idiot," _growled Lucy. Her tone was even more threatening conveyed through Gray's vocal chords.

"I- uh, _what?_"

"You should say something, no matter what! You might've given up hope, but it doesn't mean the people around you would. Even if at the end of it all, you don't find a cure, your loved ones would still appreciate your time was ending, rather than just _finding a dead body the next morning! _It's selfish, irresponsible, and don't get me _started _on what it does to the people who find you like that-"

Lucy's tirade was cut off by a sob pushing itself past her throat. Natsu recognised the look of despair reflected in Gray's eyes as one Lucy had expressed previously, but before he could even begin to reach out to her, comfort her, Lucy was pushing past spectators and running through the guild doors.

"Wait, Lucy!" cried Happy, but was ignored.

"I- I don't-" began Loki.

"No, you don't get to talk," interrupted Natsu, "The only reason you're not charcoal at the moment is because that would just make Lucy more upset. That, and you're inhabiting my body."

"That's two reasons, Natsu," muttered Happy, but again he was ignored.

Loki looked at Natsu with a strange mixture of confusion, apprehension, and sorrow. Which, to Natsu, was an extremely strange experience. It definitely redefined the term 'out of body' experience for him. Reaching out with a pale hand, Natsu silenced Happy's next response by physically halting Erza's mouth from moving. Beside him (her, this was getting confusing), Gray began fiddling with the hem of Lucy's shirt. It seemed to Natsu that he was struggling to connect the dots on a picture he had only half seen.

Not being a fan of mind games or the like, Natsu practically ordered Gray spit out whatever he was thinking. After a couple of brief vocal protests at being ordered around by a 'stupid, hot-headed lizard', the ice mage complied.

"Lucy's outburst just then… it was about her mum, wasn't it?" Gray asked.

Natsu was surprised at Grays perception.

"How did you figure that out?" he asked.

Gray hesitated.

"She mentioned something about her mum when we were on Galuna Island. It was just a brief, passing statement, but it seemed to me that while she loved her mum, her mother had done something to betray her," Erza said in lieu of Gray's silence. She too had been present for that conversation, though it had taken her until that moment to see things from their emotional aspect.

Natsu noticed that this did help with Loki's guilt.

"Look, its not my story to tell, but you all are sort of owed an explanation, especially you, Loki, considering she chose you to project her experience onto," said Natsu. "What you need to know is that Lucy idolised her mother. She was a celestial mage, and Lucy wanted to be just like her when she grew up. Anyway, when Luce was eleven, her mum died really suddenly. The doctors said she had been sick for a long time, but Luce hadn't known a thing."

Erza had lifted a paw to her mouth, picking up just why Lucy had lost it to the extent that she had.

"That's… the reason why she snapped at Loki, its because she…" Erza didn't want to finish that thought.

Natsu nodded sadly.

"From what I understand of what Luce told me of that day, she was the one to find her mum like that. I don't know exactly how it happened, but that would be hard on any kid."

Natsu felt someone grip his bicep tightly, and he turned to see himself- Loki- looking extremely apologetic. "I am really, really sorry, Natsu."

The salamander's voice did the impossible. It turned to ice.

"Sure, it would've been nice to know what was going on with you, but the one you need to say sorry to is Lucy."

"Why don't you go find Lucy and bring her back here? I'm going to get Levy to see what she can do about reversing this magic, and we're going to need Lucy here when we do it," said Erza, overcoming emotional drama the only way she knew how: with a mission to distract her.

Loki scoffed. It was a self-depreciating sound that should never again be uttered by Natsu's vocal chords.

"I really don't think she'd want to see me. Natsu's her m- best friend, after all. I'd just upset her more," said Loki.

"Well, you are wearing Natsu's skin, so it's basically the same thing," mumbled Gray.

Natsu would have been offended, but at that moment he was too busy trying not to outwardly show the bout of weakness that had just overcome him. When Gray's attempt to start a fight and lighten the atmosphere failed, silence fell on the quintet. Frustrated, Erza walked to Happy's side to pull a sword out of her scabbard.

There was something indescribably terrifying about a sword-wielding, blue, cattish Erza, so Natsu didn't blame Loki when he ran off to do Erza's bidding.

* * *

><p>Loki didn't know Lucy well. Of course, he knew the bare basics, what everyone at Fairy Tail knew about Lucy Heartfilia, curtesy of Natsu. He knew she specialised in Celestial magic. He knew she spent time with Natsu and his dragon father in her childhood. Loki supposed he also knew other, lesser known things because of his previous... <em>occupation<em>. The news of Lyra's salvation at Lucy's hands had not escaped his ears, nor had he ignored that she was the progeny of Layla Heartfilia, the previous owner of three of his celestial brethren. But those were all just facts he had learned without the emotional entanglement that came with experiencing those things first hand. He was grateful to Lucy, sure, for what she did for Lyra (and the others), but he couldn't help but be a little jealous. There was no benevolent wizard around to save himself and Aries, and Loki was paying the price of that.

That was initially why he had avoided Lucy upon her arrival at Fairy Tail. She reminded him of everything that had gone wrong, of everything that _could have been_. He didn't have the same fear of Lucy like he had of all other Celestial mages. By now, he knew that she treated he Spirits extremely well, and he respected her greatly for that. But he was ancient, and tired, a kind of bone-deep weariness that came from the emotional upheaval that he had gone through in the past five-ish years.

Loki kicked at a stone along the pathway, accidentally sending it flying into the bay. He didn't know where Lucy lived, nor where she normally hung out, and so the only way he had any hope of finding her was to use an unfamiliar magic. He had hoped to use the magic that came to any spirit naturally, one that linked mages to the celestial bodies. Any spirit could determine the location of a Celestial mage, contracted or not. It often came in useful when he felt like opening independent gates. It was a lot easier in his earlier years to linger in the human world if there was a Celestial mage nearby. However, things were different in this body. He didn't have the same magic, he was relying on Natsu's instincts. It seemed that he and Lucy had a much deeper tie than they let on- probably even more than the two were aware of. It was like Lucy's magic had once touched Natsu's, creating a link between the two. The echoes of that link lingered, like they had done it more than once The pull was muted now, but it was enough for him to garner the general direction in which Lucy had fled.

In retrospect, Loki realised what he had inadvertently stirred up in Lucy could have- _should_ have -been avoided. He remembered the day that Aquarius, Capricorn, and Cancer had congregated at the edge of space that created the gap between the spirit and human dimensions to farewell the soul of their owner. It had been a sad time for all the Zodiac, it was rare they fell into the hands of a wielder who treat them as beings, rather than tools.

It just... hadn't translated at all to Loki. Layla Heartfilia had been more than a friend to the spirits.

She had been mother to Lucy.

Loki knew this, but again, there was the problem with the consolidation of human emotion and interaction. Spirits had emotions, sure, but rarely was death or hunger or sickness seen by the many spirits that inhabited their world. Only the spirits with strong enough ties to the human world, enough to be called through by a Celestial Wizard, had any idea of the troubles that normally plagued the human race. Even then, some of the concepts were difficult to understand. (Though unfortunately, he was quite familiar with the darker aspects of human nature)

"I don't want to talk to you."

Lucy's voice was like a physical shock to Loki, enough that it dragged him out of his thoughts for long enough for him to realise he had walked right up to her without realising.

She was sitting on the pier, overlooking the waves below, crashing into the beach. The towering structure of the guild hall provided a minuscule measure of protection from the mid-morning sun. Gray's shoulders were stiff, and from what Loki could see, she had been crying.

Loki wasn't very good at handling negative emotions.

"Did you know that if the bond between Mage and Spirit is strong enough, the Spirit begins to take on some of the stronger qualities of their contractor?" asked Loki.

He knew that going down this path would drag up memories better left forgotten, answer questions that should be left alone, but he owed this much to Lucy. She had saved Lyra, Scorpio, and Canis Major. Her mother was a great friend to Capricorn, Cancer, and Aquarius.

Lucy didn't seem to react to Loki's statement, but Loki knew she heard. He pushed on.

"I've seen my companions change many, many times when their keys changed hands. But none of those times compare to the day that you were born."

Lucy went stiff, though she didn't turn to face Loki. He sighed, knowing that this was going to be painful, but cathartic.

For both of them.

"Cancer completely lost his cool, rushing to practice styles that little girls would love on Virgo and Aries. Capricorn actually _smiled_. I mean, he wasn't always a stiff robot-goat-man per se, but this smile reached his eyes. It was a massive thing. But the biggest change was in Aquarius. You know how she is: stubborn and foul-tempered, but it took all of my strength to keep her in the spirit world when you were born, because she didn't want to miss a moment. She _cried_. I have spent millennia by her side, and I can count the number of times that has happened on one hand.

"Do you know why she cried?" Loki asked. By then, Lucy had turned around to face him, completely enraptured. It was more than a little disconcerting to reveal such private things to someone with Gray's face, but if Loki knew anything, it was the person's spirit that counted.

"I don't..." Lucy answered softly, despite the rhetorical nature of the question.

"She cried because your mother cried. You had become the most important thing in both worlds to Layla Heartfilia, and that translated strongly to the three Zodiac she had under her care. Your mother loved you so, so much."

Lucy was sobbing now- a rather messy look on Gray's face. She apparently didn't care how Loki knew all this, but the words resonated enough in her, held enough of the truth that she knew, for her to believe it strongly.

"B-but why didn't sh-she tell me?" she cried, ice forming around her hands. It was curious Natsu's magic lead him straight to Lucy, even though her own magic still inhabited her body. Perhaps Loki's theory was wrong?

Loki knelt down next to her, a comforting hand going to her hair. This was hard for him to talk about, though not nearly as hard as it was for Lucy to hear it. He missed the Zodiac, their ties stronger than those of best friends. Siblings might have been a closer comparison, though even that paled to the real thing.

"My best guess? She didn't want to hurt you."

This was apparently the wrong thing to say.

"Hurt me? _Hurt me?_ Not telling me hurt me more!" Lucy's voice was steadily rising in pitch, hurting Loki's (Natsu's) sensitive ears. "Yeah, I would've been hurt knowing mama was dying, but do you know what hurt more? Waking up, right next to her cold, dead body. Do you know what that does to an _eleven year old?"_

Suddenly, Loki was being hugged. He realised that Gray was right to some extent- his physical form was a source of comfort to Lucy. So he let her sob into his vest, not minding the mess it was making. He was sure that Natsu would get over the fact that it was technically _Gray's_ bodily fluids making his clothes unwearable, considering it was all for Lucy's sake.

"I'm sorry, Lucy," said Loki quietly, "I know that you don't know me that well, but I owe you a lot for saving my companions. You made- are making their lives better. I'm so, so sorry."

After a while, Lucy began to calm down. Her body occasionally was overcome with sobs, but it had calmed her enough for her to relinquish her tight grip on him. Loki didn't envy Natsu for the bruises he'd get for this. This thought reminded Loki of the second part of the dual reason he was sent on this particular task.

"Not to seem insensitive, or anything, but we need to get back to the guild ASAP," Loki said, pausing long enough to gain Lucy's acquiescence.

Loki stood quickly, becoming envious of the strength beneath Natsu's skin. What he wouldn't give to be able to move like he used to.

A firm, cold grip on his wrist stopped him from turning to go back, however. Loki didn't meet Lucy's eyes.

"This isn't over, _Loki_. I might be more than slightly upset at how much this situation resembles my mother's, but that hasn't distracted me from the obvious. I don't know what your relationship is to the other Zodiac, but its obvious you're a spirit, which is why Natsu is having problems in your body," a quick, harsh squeeze reminded Loki that it hadn't escaped Lucy's attention that he _wasn't_ Natsu, despite her earlier reliance on him, "I don't know why you're in this world, or how, but I know its why-" Lucy stopped her tirade. Her eyes widened.

"You're _fading_, aren't you?" she asked, and Loki wasn't quick enough to hide his shock, "Somehow, you've been locked out of the Spirit World, and you can't return, and its causing this world's magic to slowly _kill _you."

Lucy's expression quickly turned to one of a mixture of horror and pity. Loki hated that look. Especially when it was directed at him. A reminder of their more pressing circumstances were in order.

"Look, I'll explain later, but I don't think you want Gray to be in your body for very long. When I left, he was quite consistently playing with the hem of your shirt."

* * *

><p>It turned out that Loki and Lucy made it back to the guild just in time for the spell to be reversed. Levy had explained that the spell was an ancient blessing, and Loki vaguely remembered watching it being performed at wedding ceremonies. It would combine the two magics of the wizards in a safe environment so that they could form a link like the one that functioned between Natsu and Lucy in the present day. That was why, Loki supposed, the spell had worked in the first place. Others had read the entire flyer out loud before Natsu, but no one had encountered problems anywhere near the scope of theirs. The presence of Loki himself must have messed with the magic enough for it to become confused: it was a form of spirit magic, after all, and his current state would have been like a beacon to it.<p>

Despite his musing, however, it wasn't enough to distract Loki from running from the guild upon the return of his natural body.

* * *

><p><strong><em>So<em>** _um. Sorry? It's been, what? Two years? Two and a half? _

_I never intended on abandoning this story-still don't. I won't bore you with the details (mainly a strange combination of life and procrastination). _

_My writing style has changed drastically, and now that I'm no longer a weeaboo fourteen year old, I can go back and edit this story so it makes more sense. The next chapter, if its not a continuation of this one, will be an interlude of sorts, that sort of explains some of the events between Layla's death, Lucy's arrival at the guild, and the events of Lullaby/Galuna. They're not gonna be full story arcs, but just enough so that future chapters make sense. _

_Thank you to everyone who has stuck by this story, reviewed it, spammed me with PM's. You guys are actually the ones who really make me want to write this thing. I'm a sucker for making people happy, so I'll endeavour to do just that! Its meant so much that some of you actually like this sorta cliche retelling. Hopefully it continues to live up to expectations. _

_I even received some __fanart while I was on hiatus- which, if you haven't noticed, I'm actually using as a cover for the story. Check out the full size thing at _ www . deviantart art / Fairy-Tail-Charcoal-Heart-fanart-363299662 _Thank you so much to Ritsukachoo for making it! I love it!_

_I'll try not to wait until I'm stuck in bed with tonsillitis when I'm supposed to be sitting a chemistry exam __again to update. I'm actually at uni now (doing all sorts of adult things (not really)), which, funnily enough, means I have more time than when I was in high school to write. _

_No but seriously, I love you guys. You're all great. _


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